Paul Guenther Fired as Raiders DC After Colts Loss; Rod Marinelli Named Interim

The Las Vegas Raiders allowed 44 points in Sunday's loss to the Indianapolis Colts, and that apparently caught the eye of the front office.

Following the game, the team announced it fired defensive coordinator Paul Guenther. Defensive line coach Rod Marinelli, who was the head coach of the Detroit Lions for three seasons from 2006 to 2008, will be the interim defensive coordinator for the rest of the year.

Marinelli went 10-38 during his time as a head coach and was also the defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears (2010-12) and Dallas Cowboys (2014-19) in his past.

This was Guenther's third season as the Raiders defensive coordinator, and he didn't exactly put up head-turning numbers. His unit finished 32nd in points allowed in 2018 and 24th in points allowed in 2019, which is a far cry from when his Cincinnati Bengals defenses finished second in points allowed in 2015 and eighth in 2016.

Las Vegas appeared well on its way to a playoff spot when it started 6-3 and even stunned the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs in their first head-to-head matchup.

However, the defense has fallen apart of late, allowing 37.5 points per game in the last four contests. It is no surprise that the Raiders went just 1-3 in that span, and they are now in danger of missing the postseason at 7-6.

Fortunately for Las Vegas, all is not lost.

It is still just one game behind the Miami Dolphins for the final AFC playoff spot and has three more games to make a run. One of those games is a head-to-head showdown with the Dolphins, while the other two are against teams with losing records in the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers.

If the defense shows some improvement under Marinelli, the postseason is not out of the picture.