It was so easy to overlook issues amid the Las Vegas Raiders' 3-0 start to the 2026 NFL season. But after just one close loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, it is suddenly effortless to start pointing the finger once again and assigning blame for why the team fell short in this AFC West showdown.
Special teams blunders played a big role, surely, and the complete lack of a run game is hurting this team in many ways. But Klint Kubiak is also coming under plenty of fire for a pair of controversial decisions that he made during the narrow 30-27 defeat.
The first came on the first drive, when Kubiak accepted an illegal formation penalty on a punt, causing a re-kick, and the Chiefs faked it and converted. The other came in the third quarter, when he wiped three points off the board by accepting a penalty and making an ill-fated attempt on fourth down.
Let's analyze these moves and see if Kubiak should really be blamed for them, or if folks are a bit too focused on the result and not the process or the decision itself.
Controversial call No. 1: Accepting the illegal formation penalty on a punt
Kansas City punted on a fourth-and-4 at their own 35-yard line early in the first quarter, and Matt Araiza absolutely booted one. Malik Benson fielded the punt at the Raiders' 1-yard line and made a 15-yard return out to the 16. But the Chiefs had an illegal formation, so Kubiak had a choice to make:
Accept the penalty and have Kansas City re-punt it from their own 30-yard line, or decline the penalty and take the ball at the Las Vegas 16. Kubiak decided to accept the penalty, probably because he wanted better field position. The Chiefs faked the next punt and converted for a fresh set of downs.
Now, was this Kubiak's fault?
In a way, the head coach makes the call, so he is technically culpable for whatever happens next. But it was not Kubiak's fault that 1) Benson fielded a punt on the 1-yard line and 2) Special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis pulled his guys off the line and allowed the fake punt conversion.
Had Benson let the ball bounce into the end zone, the Raiders would probably decline that penalty. Had Las Vegas kept its guys up, perhaps the fake punt wouldn't have happened, and when the Chiefs punted, Benson would have made a big return or let it be for a touchback.
It's hard to blame Kubiak too much for this one. Plus, all is well that ends well, as the defense stepped up and got a stop. No harm, no foul, ultimately, and the process wasn't bad, either. The execution by Benson and DeCamillis is what hurt the team here.
Verdict: Let's not rake Kubiak over the coals for this one.
Controversial Call No. 2: Going for it on 4th&2, taking points off the board
This is the one that has everyone up in arms.
On the first possession of the third quarter, Las Vegas was moving the ball with a 13-10 lead and got into field goal position. After the drive stalled and the team was looking at fourth-and-7, Kubiak sent out the field goal unit, and Matt Gay knocked a 41-yarder through the uprights. 16-10, Raiders.
But wait! The Chiefs had another illegal formation penalty, so instead of taking the points, Kubiak trotted the offense back out there on fourth-and-2 and went for it at the Kansas City 23-yard line. Kirk Cousins' pass fell incomplete, and all of a sudden, it's Chiefs ball, and it's only 13-10 Las Vegas.
Knowing that the Raiders only lost by 3 may make this decision look a lot worse. But we first need to debunk the misnomer that taking the points here would have tied the game. First of all, the butterfly effect of these decisions is so grand that it is impossible to know how the game would have gone.
Kansas City also went for two at one point to push the lead from four to six and didn't get it. Maybe they would have still done so with a one-point lead to push it to three, but it stands to reason that they may have just kicked the extra point, putting the Raiders down four at the end of the game anyway.
Analytically speaking, this wasn't necessarily the wrong call, either. ESPN had this decision "very, very close," even though they slightly preferred keeping the points. But this was a choice made because Kubiak believes in his offense and wanted to be aggressive against Patrick Mahomes and Co.
Perhaps it was the right decision but the wrong offensive play call, and therefore an undesirable result. Kubiak clearly trusts his guys in these critical moments, and that instilled confidence can go a long way in the grand scheme of things.
To play devil's advocate, it was a long fourth-and-2, and with the way that the defense was playing at that moment, a six-point lead would have been nice. They could have given up touchdowns on the next two drives and not scored, and it still would have been a one-possession game.
Seeing three points on the board and taking them off was a cardinal sin to John Madden. And that guy knew a thing or two. But I am completely fine with taking the aggressive approach here, even if Kubiak backed off and took the points the second time in a similar situation.
And it seems like Kubiak doesn't regret the decision.
"Obviously, there's a point there where I took three points off the board, and we were going to be aggressive going into the game," Kubiak said. "I don't regret it. I regret not getting it."
Cousins was right there with him.
"Klint [Kubiak] felt we needed to be aggressive; we needed to be attacking all game long. If you come in here trying to just hang around with a good football team, it may not pan out the way you want. Felt like we needed to attack, just wish there have been, by me, better execution at moments that would have given us that chance to come out on top."
It has been a while since the Raiders didn't play scared against the Chiefs, so, fair enough.
Verdict: Right choice, wrong play call, bad result.
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