Las Vegas has blown 4th quarter leads to the Arizona Cardinals, Kansas City Chiefs, and Jacksonville Jaguars this season and are now at +40,000 odds to win the Super Bowl, according to the bookmakers at Pragmaticplay.
Despite yet another terrible loss, head coach Josh McDaniels is choosing to look toward their final four games, according to Aidan Champion of Sports Illustrated:
“I mean, none of them feel good,” said Raiders Coach Josh McDaniels when he spoke of Thursday’s loss during his Friday press conference. “I mean, it’s a gut punch. And, God, we’ve had a few of them where we had a chance and just for whatever reason don’t end up getting it closed out.
“And so, look, I think we have a mentally tough group. I think we’ve handled some adversity this year with a good attitude and the right approach, and that’s what we all need to do. We’re professionals, and they’ll have an opportunity to get little rest here and try to get their minds away from things for a few days. And then, when it’s time to come back, it’s time to go back to work. We’ve got four more games we control, and we will put everything we got into them and see what happens.”
The Thursday Night Football loss to the Rams gives Las Vegas a few extra days to reset itself before getting ready for the stretch run. Vegas closes with three home games vs. the New England Patriots this Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers on New Year’s Day, and Kansas City Chiefs to end the season on January 8th. They have a Christmas Eve road game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium.
Even with this season’s expanded playoff format, to even have a shot at the playoffs, the Raiders need to win out the rest of the way and hope the chips all fall in their favor. A single loss will eliminate them. It’s a tall task, but crazier things have happened in the NFL.