The Las Vegas Raiders were seemingly playing against two teams in Week 9 - the San Francisco 49ers and themselves.
Klint Kubiak's team, despite a horrific defensive effort, could have easily beaten the mighty NFC West foe on Sunday, but they couldn't get out of their own way. The final score will say that the Raiders got blown out in their return to the Bay Area, but that's not really the whole story.
In every possible way, the Silver and Black beat themselves in a game in which they simply could not afford to make key mistakes. San Francisco was going to punish them for miscues and flat-out outman them at times anyway, but for Las Vegas to be its own worst enemy was disheartening.
With the emotions of this horrifying game still very much flowing through me, here are my immediate reactions to the Raiders dropping to 4-5 after losing their rivalry game against the 49ers.
Instant reactions to Raiders' embarrassing and all-too-preventable loss to 49ers
1. It's in the title: the Raiders beat themselves.
Dylan Laube had a tremendous return to set up the offense for a potential touchdown, but they settled for a field goal. Later in the game, they were moving the ball, and Brock Bowers fumbled deep in San Francisco territory. Michael Mayer was on the 1-inch line and fumbled on the next possession.
Bowers got brought down at the 1-yard line, and then Fred Warner turned into Troy Polamalu, Mayer got called for offensive pass interference to negate a touchdown, and then Kirk Cousins thought Tre Tucker was 6-foot-4 and threw a 50-50 ball to him, which resulted in an interception.
When there was just a shred of hope at the end, a defensive holding call on Taron Johnson made sure to wipe that away. Just an all-around inexcusable performance.
2. Rob Leonard might not make it to Monday with a job.
At the very least, his position is not secure at the bye week, and it is doubtful at this point that he'll be back next season. His unit, once again, was thoroughly outmatched and outschemed, made the same mistakes, and continued to get worse.
Why did Leonard drop Tonka Hemingway into coverage on Christian McCaffrey? Why can't this unit reliably get pressure? Why can't they tackle or stop the run? Why can't they get a stop without a player making a great individual effort for a takeaway? Too many questions, and literally zero answers.
3. Kirk Cousins does not need to play any more football for the Raiders.
Not only did he kill his trade value on Sunday, which sucks, but he didn't exactly help the team win, either. And that is a separate issue. Was it his fault that Bowers and Mayer fumbled in key scenarios? Certainly not.
But it is his fault that he fumbled and threw a backbreaking pick-six on the same play. It's his fault that his arm isn't strong enough to make the throws that are required to complete a comeback. It's his fault that he underthrew a jump ball to a 5-foot-9 receiver. And that he threw another after that.
Veteran quarterbacks shouldn't have those kinds of miscues.
Fernando Mendoza needs to be the starting quarterback by tomorrow. Heck, by the end of this sentence. It is clear that this team is going nowhere in 2026, and every rep that Cousins gets over Mendoza is a waste at this point. The Raiders must know what they have in their franchise QB.
4. Klint Kubiak has things to address.
Not only does he need to answer for some inexplicably bad play-calling in a few spots during that game, but the young head coach simply has to stop wasting timeouts and failing to make the right decision in challenge scenarios.
It looked like Bowers was in the end zone, or at least very close, on the aforementioned play, and it was probably worth another look at that point in the game. And in the first half, the Raiders couldn't get to the line of scrimmage in time to snap the ball after a 49ers penalty, and they burned a timeout.
Kubiak has worked miracles with the offense this year, but he is clearly a rookie head coach who needs to improve his own decision-making or the processes that lead to it. When Las Vegas starts playing important games next year, they can't have these kinds of errors plaguing them.
Oh, and put Mendoza in the freaking game when you're down 18 with just a few minutes left. Come on.
5. I will concede that there were some positives to come from Week 9.
I thought Ashton Jeanty ran the ball a lot better, and Jermod McCoy made some really nice plays late in the game. Dylan Laube continues to prove that he should be an All-Pro or Pro Bowler. Special teams, in general, have been very good.
Back to the drawing board.
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