Jon Gruden isn’t clueless. He knows Khalil Mack keeps making him look bad

It took a few weeks, but Jon Gruden got his first win since returning to coaching when the Oakland Raiders pulled out a 45-42 overtime win against the Cleveland Browns.

Gruden was put under the microscope the day he signed a 10-year, $100 million contract with the team in January. He dialed up that scrutiny to full blast when he traded away arguably the best defensive player in the NFL, Khalil Mack.

In four games with the Chicago Bears, Mack has made a case for the NFL MVP award with five sacks, four forced fumbles, and an interception. His presence alone and the attention he draws has made his Chicago teammates better, and the Bears are now No. 3 in points allowed and No. 2 in turnovers forced.

Meanwhile, the Raiders have struggled to rush the passer and are No. 31 in yards allowed. Every step of the way, Gruden has sounded clueless about the poorly handled trade, giving weekly quotes about how nice it’d be to have a good pass rusher in Oakland.

But an article from NFL Network’s Mike Silver showed that at least Gruden understands that Mack’s weekly destruction of quarterbacks dials the pressure up on him and the Raiders:

As he readied his game face for what he hoped would be his first NFL head-coaching victory in exactly nine years and 10 months, Jon Gruden sat in the coaches’ area of the home locker room at the Oakland Coliseum on Sunday morning, scrolled through his cell phone and got some decidedly disturbing news.

”Damn -- Khalil Mack had another strip sack?” Gruden asked rhetorically, shaking his head at the Oakland Raiders assistant coaches in his midst. “Are you ... kidding me?”

Yep, another strip sack. Mack’s at four straight games with a strip sack — something that nobody has done since Robert Mathis in 2005. Gruden has said he doesn’t regret the decision to take two first-round picks over a 27-year-old quarterback wrecking machine. But at least this article shows he’s a little self-aware.

To Gruden’s credit, he’s not oblivious: As Mack, the edge rusher he traded to the Chicago Bears shortly before the start of the regular season following a protracted contract dispute, continued his reign of terror against opposing quarterbacks -- forcing a pair of turnovers in the Bears’ blowout victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- Gruden knew it would turn up the pressure on him to win over an already-restless Raider Nation.

Mack’s not going anywhere. He’ll almost definitely be an unstoppable force in Chicago for years to come, but the Raiders can move on from the mistake by winning.

Starting the year 0-3 with all kinds of defensive struggles kept the heat on Gruden, but it’s a little better now after a win. Finish a season with a winning record and Mack won’t be the focus anymore. That’s easier said than done.