Jon Gruden's Record on Coach's Challenges in 2019 is Truly Miserable
By Jerry Trotta
Jon Gruden may have though himself to be a sneaky dark horse candidate for NFL Coach of the Year in 2019 after leading his Oakland Raiders, a team most pundits predicted would be battling for a top draft pick this season, to a 4-4 mark in the thick of the AFC playoff race through eight games.
Where the 56-year-old head coach isn't enjoying himself, however, is when he opts to throw the red challenge flag. After failing to have an incomplete pass challenge overturned on Thursday Night Football against the Chargers, Chucky is now a woeful 0-for-7 on official objections this season. That leaves him as the only head coach in the NFL without a single successful challenge in seven or more tries.
With his failed challenge of an incomplete pass early on #ThursdayNightFootball, Jon Gruden is now 0-for-7 on challenges in 2019.
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) November 8, 2019
He is the only coach in the NFL with zero successes on at least 7 challenges this season.
If these figures don't perfectly represent everything we love about Gruden, we don't know what does.
The former Super Bowl champ knows his X's and O's, but his intuition on challenges leaves A LOT to be desired.
Jon Gruden challenges that this incompletion was actually a fumble. I believe he's going to lose it and be 0-7 on the year. Still not sure there was ever actually a recover anyway.
— Adam Hill (@AdamHillLVRJ) November 8, 2019
The only thing left to deliberate now is if Gruden will get over the hump at some point this season. We like to think that he will, but his track record thus far leaves that question very much up in the air.
Stay tuned, folks.