Just as the Oakland Raiders end their most successful season in eight years, reports are quickly surfacing that head coach Tom Cable is out as head coach. Adam Schefter, the NFL Network, and Nancy Gay are all reporting that Davis will not pick up the option held by the Raiders. The option must be decided on by January 18 and apparently not making the playoffs could mean the end of the Tom Cable era.
Although the Raiders finished the season losing four of six, an 8-8 finish marks their best record since 2002. Cable took over as interim coach in 2008 and has directed Oakland to some improvement in his two full seasons as head coach. They went 5-11 last year, but improved to 8-8 in 2010. While the playoff miss is disappointing, the biggest disappointment is the poor finish. As several players on the team emerged as legit playmakers, the QB position was a bit of a disappointment. The Raiders bounced between Jason Campbell and Bruce Gradkowski. If they had more than Kyle Boller in their back pocket they might have gone full time to a third QB at some point.
These reports have only surfaced today so we'll keep a close eye on the situation as it develops. Give the team's struggles earlier in the month, one would have expected prior revelations. We'll see if this is just a temporary moment of crazy in the long history of Al Davis crazy, or if he's prepared to play this all the way out. For more on the subject, head over to Silver and Black Pride's thread.