(Sports Network) - Welcome to the land of limbo, Josh McDaniels.

The second-year Denver head coach got an official reprieve -- but not exactly a binding one -- on Monday night, when Broncos owner Pat Bowlen said he had no immediate plans to make a coaching change in spite of the team's 3-8 record and McDaniels' personal 5-16 slate since a 6-0 start fizzled out last season.

Denver lost, 36-33, to visiting St. Louis on Sunday, dropping it four games behind the front-running Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West with five games to play. The Broncos are at Kansas City on Sunday to begin a three-week road stretch that'll also include stops in Arizona and Oakland.

"This has been a very trying and disappointing season for all of us," Bowlen said. "We haven't had the success we had hoped to achieve. Josh McDaniels is the head coach of the Broncos, and you always strive for stability at that position. However, with five games left in the 2010 season, we will continue to monitor the progress of the team and evaluate what's in the best interest of this franchise."

In a subsequent interview with former Denver Post columnist Thomas George, Bowlen was more specific about his plans to retain McDaniels beyond the end of this season.

"I am not interested in making a coaching change," he said. "I'm very happy with Josh. Josh is doing a good job. I wish he had a few more wins, but we've got five games to go. I've got 27 years in this business. The ball bounces funny, and it doesn't always bounce your way."

Bowlen said a recent videotaping controversy in which both McDaniels and the team were fined $50,000 would have no bearing on the coach's job status. A former team employee, video coordinator Steve Scarnecchia, reportedly taped a portion of the San Francisco 49ers practice while the teams were sharing Wembley Stadium in preparation for an October game in London.

McDaniels said he refused to watch the tape, but was fined for not reporting the violation of the league's "integrity of the game" rule. Scarnecchia was fired.

"You're not human if you're not frustrated or agitated at times with the lack of an ability to get over the hump with some of these games," McDaniels said after Sunday's loss. "But you go through life, you have to handle adversity. That I learned a long, long time ago.

"Not every year is going to be a great year. Not every day is going to be a great day. We've got a real solid group of people here that are going to continue to do everything they can do to help turn that around."

CHIEFS: Suddenly, Matt Cassel was back in New England.

The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback and former understudy to Tom Brady and deliverer of Randy Moss touchdown passes (11 of them in 2008) returned to past levels of personal productivity during Sunday's 42-24 win at Seattle, while approaching Moss-like totals with another aerial target.

The 13 catches for 170 yards and three touchdowns by wideout Dwayne Bowe moved him into a sixth-place tie in the AFC with 58 receptions, bumped him to fourth in the conference with 885 yards and elevated him to first in the league with 14 touchdowns, the most by a receiver through 11 games since Moss hauled in 16 for the Patriots in an unbeaten 2007 regular season.

Cassel began his union with Moss the following year, when Brady was shelved in the season opener. The New England opponent that day? Ironically, it was Bowe and the Chiefs.

Cassel came to Kansas City in 2009 via trade after Brady returned to full strength. He was 4-11 as a starter in year No. 1 while completing 55 percent of his passes for 2,924 yards and 16 touchdowns, but has blossomed this season with a league-leading running game and the reemergence of Bowe, a first-round pick from LSU in 2007.

The Miami native's 14 touchdown catches broke the franchise single-season record of 12 set by Chris Burford in 1962 and extended his team mark to seven straight games with a touchdown catch. Additionally, he joined Hall of Famer Jerry Rice (1990, 1995) and Jimmy Smith (2000) as the only receivers since 1990 to record 13 catches, 170 yards and three touchdowns in a game.

Cassel finished Sunday's win with a 129.3 passer rating, his fifth 100-plus game of the season. He also tied a career high with four touchdown passes and has now thrown 127 consecutive passes without an interception. The former seventh-round pick of the 2005 draft is tied for third in the AFC with 22 touchdown passes, and his 99.7 rating trails only Brady (105.8) and San Diegos Philip Rivers (104.9) in the AFC.

In November, only Colts tight end Jacob Tamme's 38 receptions had more than Bowe's 37. Though Bowe led the league in both receiving yards (528) and touchdown catches (eight) for the month. Cassel threw an NFL-best 12 touchdown passes in November and had just one interception, and was third in quarterback rating (111.2) behind only Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers (130.2) and Brady (121.7).

"[Bowe is] learning, and he's growing, and he's growing up right before our eyes," Chiefs coach Todd Haley said. "Not a lot different than a lot of these guys, Matt being one of them. It's one of the great, fulfilling things as a coach. We do this to win, and that's No. 1, but when you see guys becoming pros; that's what you're seeing with Dwayne.

"He's not there, he has a long ways to go, and how he goes forward and handles more people talking about him will be another step for him to take."

RAIDERS: Another start, another stop for Bruce Gradkowski.

The Oakland Raiders quarterback and former sixth-round draft pick returned after a month on the shelf with right shoulder problems for Sunday's game with the Miami Dolphins, but tests after the Raiders' 33-17 loss reportedly revealed another third-degree separation, according to the Oakland Tribune.

If confirmed, the latest malady would put Gradkowski out for the season.

The 27-year-old passer was making his first start since Oct. 10, when a sack by San Diego Chargers linebacker Shaun Phillips aggravated the shoulder injury he'd suffered against Arizona on Sept. 26. Gradkowski missed the remainder of the Chargers game and the next four while recovering from a third-degree separation, the most severe kind.

He returned to action in a relief role in last week's 35-3 loss to Pittsburgh and threw 24 passes for 98 yards after replacing Jason Campbell.

Gradkowski said after the Miami game that he felt comparable to the way he did after the San Diego game. A third-degree separation typically involves the tearing of all the ligaments in the shoulder that hold down the clavicle and, according to several medical websites, takes weeks to months to fully heal.

Raiders head coach Tom Cable, who'd not gotten final test results before meeting with the media on Monday, confirmed that if Gradkowski had indeed sustained a similar injury he'd be lost for the year.

"If that is true, yes," he said. "But we'll know more as soon as we kind of get this thing evaluated and see how serious it is this time, see if there's any more damage."

If Gradkowski is unavailable, Campbell will return to the starting role he'd assumed during the previous hiatus. Cable said No. 3 quarterback Kyle Boller would not be considered.

Campbell is 28th in the league in passer rating (75.8) among starting NFL quarterbacks. Gradkowski is 32nd (66.3) out of the 33 ranked. In Campbells five starts, the Raiders were 3-2.

On the season, Campbell has completed 54.7 percent of his passes for 1,322 yards, seven touchdowns and six interceptions. The ex-Washington Redskin started the team's opener at Tennessee, was pulled at halftime for Gradkowski and sat until the initial injury.

"It's not easy," Campbell said of his uncertain role. "It's not an easy thing by [any] means. You're a competitor. You like to compete. But by no means are you understanding or anything. It's kind of tough being caught right in between something and you don't know what's going on."

CHARGERS: So much for that big-time return for Vincent Jackson.

The mercurial San Diego Chargers receiver, who missed the initial portion of the season and often looked on the verge being traded, was prepped to return for last Sunday night's primetime match with the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. Instead, he hurt his left leg in practice Friday, then injured his right calf warming up prior to the game. He played two snaps before exiting and did not return.

An MRI performed Monday morning confirmed the strain, and head coach Norv Turner said Jackson has substantial swelling.

"I would think it would probably be hard for him to play this week," Turner said. "Then after that, it would be on a week-to-week basis. We will see how he recovers. I may be premature in saying it will be hard for him this week, but I want to be realistic."

Reports said Jackson tweaked his left calf in practice Friday and then injured the other by overcompensating for the original injury. Another report said Jackson was sore Friday and did more than he should have in the lead-up to his first game.

Jackson spent four weeks on the Roster Exempt List after signing his contract on Oct. 29. He sat out the offseason and first two months of the regular season, unhappy with not receiving a multi-year deal. Jackson signed in time to assure he would be on the roster for six games and become an unrestricted free agent after 2010.

"His attitude, his approach has been excellent," Turner said of Jackson. "He wants to play."

Aside from injury concerns, Sunday's 36-14 victory over the Colts was a feat for the stat gurus.

The Chargers' 36 points were the most in the NFL this season by a team with just one offensive touchdown. It was the first time San Diego, which went 0- for-8 on third down, had not converted in that spot in a game since 1998. The Chargers' failure to get a touchdown on their first three trips into the red zone broke a streak of reaching the end zone on six straight trips.

Quarterback Philip Rivers' team-record streak of 23 games with at least one touchdown pass also came to an end, while his 185 passing yards were his fewest in a game this season, though he did complete his last two attempts of the first half and went 11-for-11 in the second.

With three completions to start this Sunday's game against Oakland, Rivers would break the team record for consecutive made pass attempts he shares with Dan Fouts.