Hill: Las Vegas Raiders’ next coach could come from Championship Sunday

Even though the Las Vegas Raiders didn’t sniff the postseason this year, championship Sunday figures to have a significant impact on the franchise’s future.

Their next head coach could be on the sidelines or in the press box for one of the conference title games.

It’s even possible minority owner Tom Brady, one of the team’s two main decision-makers in the coaching search, will be conducting in-person evaluations of a few candidates.

In short, Sunday figures to be as impactful a day for the future of the Raiders as it is for any team not involved in the action on the field.

Despite adding a candidate in Brian Daboll on Saturday, they have reached the point in the coaching search where it appears they are starting to narrow their focus, and the fact they have been largely quiet otherwise the past few days indicates they could be in a holding pattern.

It’s possible, if not more than likely, the Raiders are waiting to conduct second interviews with coaches who are otherwise occupied with preparing for playoff games.

The rules allowed for the Raiders to conduct virtual interviews with coaches from postseason teams prior to last week’s games, but only virtually and for no longer than three hours.

Brady and general manager John Spytek took advantage of that opportunity.

They have talked to Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, Broncos quarterbacks coach Davis Webb and defensive coordinator Vance Joseph along with three Rams assistants: offensive coordinator Mike LeFleur, defensive coordinator Chris Shula and passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase.

Now a waiting game must be played should the Raiders want to take the next step on any of them.

The league mandates a second in-person interview can’t happen until Monday when those teams will either be eliminated from the playoffs or will be on their bye week before preparing for the Super Bowl. The interview window closes for those Super Bowl coaches on Feb. 1 and reopens after the game.

What to watch

Expect the Raiders brass to pay close attention to these games. Brady certainly will. He’ll be the analyst on the Fox broadcast of the NFC championship game between the Seahawks and Rams.

That could make the chess match between Kubiak’s offense and Shula’s defense particularly fun to follow for Raiders fans, who will be looking for clues in how Brady breaks down that matchup throughout the game.

When the Rams have the ball, Raiders fans can get a close look at head coach Sean McVay’s offense and dream about what it might look like with Ashton Jeanty, Brock Bowers and potentially Fernando Mendoza running it.

Perfect pairs?

That’s basically what you would get from his protégés, LeFleur and Scheelhaase. Scheelhaase has been generating the most buzz in league circles.

The Rams could produce a potential Raiders’ pairing of Shula as head coach and Scheelhaase as the offensive coordinator and possible mentor of Mendoza.

That sounds like a winning ticket, though it’s another pairing that seems to be picking up more steam.

Webb, who is also the Broncos’ passing game coordinator, has emerged as one of the trendiest candidates of this coaching cycle despite being out of the league as a player for only three years.

Indications are strong that he could bring his college head coach with him to serve as his offensive coordinator.

That would be Kliff Kingsbury, who is also in the mix for several other jobs and was nearly the Raiders’ offensive coordinator two seasons ago.

Webb’s coaching skills, which have been raved about, will be put to the test by how prepared he can get backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham to make his first start of the year under intense pressure.

Joseph’s elite defense will also be counted on to rise to the challenge. But he’s already been a head coach, so he’s more of a known commodity than the rest of Sunday’s potential candidates.

Bottom line, it’s a big day for the Raiders. Fans should pay close attention. The organization certainly will.

One more thing to ponder: Other teams with openings are also looking at some of the same candidates.

That includes the Buffalo Bills, with whom Webb served as Josh Allen’s backup and remains a close friend. Webb is believed to be a strong candidate there and could potentially pick that job over the Raiders should he be offered both.

But the Bills did not interview him in the first window because they had not yet fired coach Sean McDermott. So if the Broncos win Sunday, the Bills couldn’t interview him during the bye week while the Raiders could.

So much to follow. Enjoy the games.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.