Well, if it wasn't already over for the Las Vegas Raiders during the 2025 NFL season, then their embarrassing primetime loss on Monday against the Dallas Cowboys was surely the nail in the coffin. Las Vegas is 2-8, and although not eliminated from the postseason, they don't have a fighting chance.
Nobody has effectively relayed that message to head coach Pete Carroll, however. He told reporters after the game that he has no intentions of playing the team's young players to see what the franchise may have in store for the future. So, Raider Nation will be stuck watching more of the same.
That is, unless owner Mark Davis and the decision-makers in Las Vegas have the guts to make some crucial adjustments to their operation. After all, Monday's performance, especially on the heels of last week's rough outing in primetime, is the kind that gets people fired.
Raiders' showing against Cowboys was a fireable offense for someone
Last week, after the Raiders' 10-7 loss to the Denver Broncos on Thursday Night Football in Week 10, the team decided to relieve special teams coordinator Tom McMahon of his duties. So, it isn't too far-fetched that more shakeups could occur.
Of course, this attempt at scapegoating McMahon didn't hold up, as Las Vegas got dismantled once again in Week 11. This time, the special teams unit actually looked improved, but the rest of the team was a complete mess.
Offensively, the Raiders could not block even in the slightest, and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly failed to make any adjustments that would negate the already-massive disadvantage Las Vegas had up front.
Between this performance and the offense only having one good game the entire year, Kelly should be on the short list of people who deserve to be on the chopping block. Offensive line coach Brennan Carroll also would have been fired weeks ago, or never hired in the first place, if not for his last name.
Yet, both of these men feel relatively safe, somehow. Kelly and Carroll clearly haven't been on the same page, but Carroll took the blame for the offense's issues on Monday. Brennan Carroll won't be fired either because, well, it may make some holiday dinner conversations uncomfortable.
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Defensively, Patrick Graham's unit looked to be in disrepair against the Cowboys. This group has bent and not broken plenty this season, but on Monday, they got torched by a talented Dallas offense, calling into question how good Graham's defense really is against the best in the league.
In fairness to him, the offense did the defense no favors, and his crew has been the most consistent and effective in Las Vegas this season. But he was a holdover from two previous regimes, and the defense's issues were glaring in this game.
So Graham could easily, and unfairly, be scapegoated. Either him or a defensive position coach could potentially get the axe, as Carroll has made a bad habit of making an example out of the wrong things and people this year, and completely defying what the fan base feels is simply logic.
All of the aforementioned struggles fall under the umbrella of Carroll's incompetence. But unless Davis wants to make the brash decision to fire the veteran head coach, then it's a futile effort to even break down all the ways that he has let down the team and the fan base this year.
Something reeks in Las Vegas, perhaps many things. Monday was just the most recent, and perhaps public and humiliating, example of just how bad it has gotten for the Raiders in only 10 short weeks of the 2025 NFL season.
Accountability has been few and far between this season for the Silver and Black, but someone deserves to be fired after the blowout loss to the Cowboys. Unfortunately, the fan base has no faith that if someone gets relieved of their duties, it'll be the right person.