The Las Vegas Raiders let Pete Carroll enjoy his Sunday after taking down the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 18. After riding a 10-game losing streak into the contest, the Raiders won their first game since October and ended the 2025 NFL season on a high note, which is good momentum for the offseason.
But this doesn't change Carroll's future in Las Vegas. A 3-14 season with eight blowout losses is not enough to keep your job in the NFL, especially when you are 74 years old and leading a team in need of a multi-year rebuild. The timelines just don't match up.
Owner Mark Davis fired Antonio Pierce after one full campaign at this time last year, despite being dealt a far worse hand and being much younger and more successful. Davis waited until the Tuesday after the season to tell Pierce his fate, and he seems to be waiting with Carroll as well.
Raiders should kick the tires on Kevin Stefanski (or at least get moving)
However, with each passing day, Davis is having his hand forced. Both the New York Giants and Tennessee Titans fired their head coaches during the season, and on Sunday evening, the Atlanta Falcons fired head coach Raheem Morris. That's three openings already.
More head coaching vacancies mean more competition in Las Vegas' search, and the longer it waits, the more it puts itself behind the 8-ball. Then, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the Cleveland Browns were firing head coach Kevin Stefanski to kick off "Black Monday."
Four teams now have openings at head coach, and the body of the 2025 season isn't even cold yet. If Davis was planning to wait until Tuesday, he needs to abandon that plan and start throwing his hat into the ring and gaining intel on potential candidates. He can't do that with Carroll still employed.
Stefanski being a good head coach option and an excellent offensive coordinator hire is another side of this coin. We wrote about all the reasons that Stefanski could succeed in Las Vegas and why his shortcomings with the Browns weren't necessarily his fault earlier this month.
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Still, given the fairly weak slate of candidates set to interview during this coaching cycle, Stefanski has likely jumped to the top of many organizations' wish lists. The Raiders should be one of those organizations, as he is the perfect blend of young, at 43 years old, but with plenty of experience.
The glaring problem with Stefanski, however, is that since Baker Mayfield, he hasn't had much success with young quarterbacks. Whether this has been poor talent evaluation from the front office or his inability to develop signal-callers is unknown, but it's something for Las Vegas to consider.
Unlikely as it is that Stefanski takes an offensive coordinator job, his being the experienced assistant under a first-time head coach like Klint Kubiak would be the dream for Las Vegas. The two worked together for three seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, and Gary Kubiak coached with Stefanski, too.
At the very least, Stefanski's firing should encourage Mark Davis to get off his hands and fire Carroll, which is a decision that Raider Nation knows is coming. The sooner they can start trying their luck at prospective coaches, the better, whether it be Stefanski or any number of others.