The start of the Pete Carroll era has been brutal, to put it kindly. The Las Vegas Raiders are just 1-4 and the team has shown nothing to give fans confidence. While rock bottom seemingly doesn't exist for this organization, Week 5's 40-6 loss to the Indianapolis Colts was the low-point of the season.
Geno Smith continued to be a turnover machine, the defense allowed a touchdown on six consecutive drives before Indianapolis pulled their starters, and the special teams unit, which has long been one of the few strengths of the Raiders, continued to look brutal.
Las Vegas was outplayed in all three facets of the game, and everything that could have went wrong did go wrong. The ugly performance earned the Raiders a spot on a disastrous list that they would have liked to avoid.
Raiders headline list of miserable franchises following Week 5
While there are still 12 games remaining on the schedule, the season is already beginning to feel like a waste. The Athletic's Mike Sando claimed that the Raiders are setting new lows after placing them at the top of his list of the league's most miserable teams in 2025.
First, however, he acknowledged the success Carroll has had in his previous stops.
"Carroll is a proven elite program builder, but it took three seasons and a couple of historically great draft classes — Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor in one, Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner in another — for him to post a winning record in Seattle," Sando wrote. "It was a full organizational mindset adjustment. It took time. Carroll needed time at USC as well. He started 1-4 there before finishing that 2001 season 6-6."
Sando, however, noted that things are a bit different in Las Vegas.
"He's 74 now and wielding less organizational control over the Raiders than he wielded in Seattle or at USC. The Raiders have already lost twice by at least 17 points," Sando pointed out. "Carroll's first Seattle team went 7-9, with all nine losses by at least 11 points. How patient will ownership be if Carroll needs a couple of seasons to win, and the team loses more games like the one it lost Sunday?"
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Raiders fans want nothing more than stability after the franchise has gone through more coaching changes in the past 23 years than they did in their first 42 years of existence. If Carroll is unable to turn things around, and fast, calls for his job will likely grow loud among the fanbase.
It was clear that the Super Bowl-winning head coach did not have a long future in Las Vegas from the time he was hired. While immediate results were not necessarily expected, there was the belief that he would change the culture and have the organization on the upswing.
If the team was losing games but showing promise, it would be much easier for Raider Nation to buy in. The way that the team has looked, however, has made it nearly impossible for fans to have any faith in the direction, so their spot on a list of the most miserable teams in the NFL is earned.