Kansas City Chiefs: Coaching changes already taking place in AFC West

The Kansas City Chiefs won the AFC West for the second straight year, but the rest of the division didn’t have as much success.

The Kansas City Chiefs went 5-1 against the division and continued their success against their AFC West foes. They swept the Chargers for the fourth straight season and swept the Broncos for the second straight season. They’ll be the lone AFC West representative in the playoffs.

Even though the Raiders finally got a win against KC, the Chiefs have still gone 8-2 against them ever since Andy Reid came to town. The Raiders, shockingly, were the first team to fire their head coach.

That’s right, after going 12-4 in 2016, nearly winning the division, and going to the playoffs for the first time since 2002, Jack Del Rio was relieved of his duties. Tough crowd in Oakland.

Jack Del Rio just said Mark Davis told him after the game that he was fired
— Steve Wyche (@wyche89) January 1, 2018

The biggest rumor is that the Raiders are confident they’ll be able to land former head coach and current ESPN broadcaster Jon Gruden. If this is the case, it sure seems like a big move for the Raiders, but Gruden hasn’t coached in over a decade. Who’s to say that he’ll be able to be that same coach from the 2000s?

The #Raiders are confident Jon Gruden will say yes eventually, though he is being careful about doing so before they comply with the Rooney Rule and he is still on the books to broadcast a game Saturday for ESPN. Gruden is already planning to call plays, hire DC Paul Guenther.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 1, 2018

As for what seemed to be the most obvious head coach firing, Broncos head coach Vance Joseph apparently will not be let go by Denver. Joseph had a horrible first year in Denver, but apparently the Broncos players lobbied for him to remain as the head coach.

The reports surfacing before the Chiefs played Denver yesterday were that Joseph was surely going to be fired. Instead, however, his players have seemingly saved his job for at least the time being.

The Chargers weren’t in danger of firing Anthony Lynn, as he had a good first year in Los Angeles. The Bolts started off with an 0-4 record, but finished at 9-7 and gave the Kansas City Chiefs a run for their money in the AFC West.

If the Chargers can stay healthy next year, they’ll be a lot of people’s picks to win the division. We saw how electric their offense can be when Keenan Allen makes it through an entire season and just how under the radar their defense was in 2017.

The KC Chiefs could potentially lose some of their top coaches, including Matt Nagy and Dave Toub. The Colts are an easy choice for either of these guys, as Colts general manager Chris Ballard used to work for the Chiefs organization.

Three candidates the #Colts are expected to interview: #Patriots OC Josh McDaniels, #Chiefs OC Matt Nagy, #Chiefs ST coach Dave Toub. There will be others, of course.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 1, 2018

The situation to keep an eye on is the one brewing in Oakland. If the Raiders fired Jack Del Rio and then Gruden flakes, that organization will be in deep crap. It’s just baffling to me that Del Rio, who was given an extension by the Raiders earlier in 2017, was let go after one bad year.