The Las Vegas Raiders were fortunate to land a relatively easy schedule for the 2025 season. That is one of the benefits of being the worst team in the division the year prior.
While navigating through the AFC West will still be difficult, facing the AFC South and NFC East is a better draw than most teams have. The Raiders will also have the benefit of a new leadership tandem with head coach Pete Carroll and John Spytek.
Both of these men have massively improved the team already through free agency and the 2025 NFL Draft. However, this almost never came to fruition because owner Mark Davis and minority owner Tom Brady were infatuated with another candidate early in the coaching cycle.
Raiders’ must-see game in 2025 is one fans didn’t expect
That candidate was former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. He used the Raiders as leverage during the process and ended up accepting the head coaching position for the Chicago Bears.
Fortunately, the Raiders and Bears play each other this year in Week 4 at Allegiant Stadium. The Athletic's Tashan Reed explained why this matchup will be the team's must-watch game for the 2025 NFL season.
"Despite minority owner Tom Brady’s best efforts, Ben Johnson spurned the Raiders to become the Bears’ head coach," Reed wrote. "Some Las Vegas fans felt like they were led on by Johnson. And in hiring Johnson, Chicago passed on Pete Carroll. Whether or not there are any hard feelings on either side, this will be a battle for bragging rights."
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The tensions will certainly be heightened in this matchup because, as Reed pointed out, Raider Nation was all-in on Johnson. Most are feeling lucky that the team ended up with Carroll, but it does not take away their frustrations with how things went down.
This will be a great test early in the season, as both of these teams are supposed to be up-and-coming. Las Vegas will be coming off a trip to the East Coast against the Commanders, but the Bears will have to travel across time zones to Sin City.
If the Raiders can pull off a victory in their home stadium, this should be at least their second win of the season before heading into an easy stretch ahead of the bye. If the Silver and Black cannot pull off a win, then it will sting twice as deep.