Raiders' brutal season fuels speculation. Pressure mounts on Pete Carroll as Las Vegas grapples with mounting losses and a dire point differential.
The Las Vegas Raiders have just two wins, and one of those came against the Tennessee Titans.
Things are so, so bad in Las Vegas, and it got worse after being shutout by the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 15.
Head coach Pete Carroll expressed his frustration, and, simply put, the clock might be ticking on his job.
While people may ask if the Raiders move on from Carroll after just one year, it is a very real scenario.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN again pumped up the Carroll one-and-done narrative.
"The pressure is mounting on Pete Carroll in Las Vegas after the team has struggled to stay competitive at 2-12. Here's my sense after asking around Tuesday: The Raiders knew 2025 would be a bit of a slog due to some roster deficiencies, but they hoped they would stay competitive -- at least more so than this season's horrific point differential of minus-167, trailing only the Titans (minus-169). One team source acknowledged, "It wasn't supposed to be this bad," and that something will need to change," Fowler wrote.
"Whether removing Carroll is that change has not been crystallized. But the proverbial hot seat chatter doesn't appear to be going away. As one source with knowledge of the Raiders' operation noted, what the team needs is what it thought it had with Antonio Pierce -- a high-energy first-time head coach with a high ceiling. The Raiders didn't have enough patience to find out whether Pierce (who went 4-13 in his only full season in Vegas, saddled by bad quarterback play) could mature into that. Either way, the Raiders appear to be in danger of a second consecutive one-and-done in the top leadership role," he added.
And, on top of that, NFL insider Jordan Schultz also spoke about Carroll's horrendous first season in Sin City.
With all of that said, the Raiders need to have a long, hard look in the mirror. Again.
Antonio Pierce won four games last season, but at least he brought energy into the team. Carroll has not done that at all, and while firing OC Chip Kelly seemed like the obvious move, the offense hasn't gotten any better.
This time, the Raiders could have the top pick, and bringing in a rookie QB with Carroll there might not be the most exciting thing, given this isn't the early 2000s.
The question is, who would the Raiders hire? Nobody knows, but the issues remain, and a one-and-done again is a possibility.