The back half of the regular season continues to be a rough ride for the Raiders, as they go into Week 15 needing to win out to get to the playoffs.
Week 14 was one of the biggest games in recent Raiders history, and they got their doors blown off by the Indianapolis Colts, 44-27. It was a highly-competitive game in the first half, as the Raiders went into the break only down six points, but the second half was a different story, particularly the fourth quarter, where the Colts put up 17 points to make the game completely out of reach.
It’s not like the Raiders laid an egg like they did against the Atlanta Falcons, or against the New York Jets for 99% of the game. They played their game in this one and put up a good fight and they simply got beat by a better team in the Colts.
The thing is, with those two previous bad performances leading up to this game, the Raiders couldn’t afford any moral victories. They needed to play perfect and win. They did not.
They got beat at a really inopportune time, and now the pressure is on them to win this week’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers, who haven’t beaten a divisional opponent in their last nine games. 2019 was a complete 0-6 sweep where they lost every game against the AFC West, and so far, they’re 0-3 this season including a loss to these Raiders.
The Chargers also haven’t won back-to-back games all season long and they just came off a thrilling victory against the Falcons. So, is this the moment where the Raiders kick their season back into shape since they have a rather easy opponent on their hands?
Unfortunately, I’m going to say no to that.