Disastrous Las Vegas Raiders season continues with Chip Kelly’s firing
The Las Vegas Raiders just fired offensive coordinator Chip Kelly as their nightmare season continued with a dreadful loss to the lowly Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Though the Browns have a good defense, a veteran-led NFL offense could only muster 10 points against them. Naturally, something had to give, and so the team just officially fired Chip Kelly.
Chip Kelly’s firing latest sign of utter disaster with Las Vegas Raiders
Head coach Pete Carroll officially fired Chip Kelly on Sunday, but he has not yet named a new offensive coordinator. "I spoke with Chip Kelly earlier this evening and informed him of his release as offensive coordinator of the Raiders," Carroll said via ESPN. "I would like to thank Chip for his service and wish him all the best in the future."
The Raiders are tied for last in the NFL in points per game (15.0). They’re 30th in total yards per game (268.9). Despite drafting Ashton Jeanty, they’re just 31st in rushing per game (79.5 yards). The Raiders are 30th in offensive EPA (minus-77.8), and 28th in red zone efficiency (48.1%). They’ve scored 10 points or fewer more times than any team in the league.
It cannot be understated how bad this all is for Las Vegas. They’re not quite in Atlanta Falcons territory (go all-in, trade your 2026 first-round pick, and then threaten for last place in your division), but they are having one of the absolute worst seasons in the NFL. Combine that with the expectations, and it looks even worse.
The Raiders were bad last year, so they fired first-year coach Antonio Pierce and brought in Super Bowl-winner and longtime veteran coach Pete Carroll. That was a move meant to inspire wins now, since Carroll is 74 and doesn’t have time to rebuild and bring a team forward.
They needed a quarterback, so they traded a third-round pick for the very solid Geno Smith, but he’s been an utter disaster. That third-round pick could’ve been spent on Xavier Watts, Chimere Dike, Cam Skattebo, Trevor Etienne, or Mitchell Evans, all of whom would’ve been nice additions.
They also extended Smith, making him an albatross of a contract to move off of. He was meant to be the guy carrying them to wins for a few years, but he’s been awful, and the team isn’t winning.
The Raiders also drafted Ashton Jeanty with the sixth pick. Jeanty was viewed as a generational running back, but teams with bad offensive lines that can’t block for said RB shouldn’t be spending such a high pick on running backs. Jeanty has tried his best, but he has been bad and the line has been even worse.
To make matters worse, they could have picked:
- Armand Membou
- Tetairoa McMillan
- Kelvin Banks
- Tyler Booker
- Walter Nolan
- Grey Zabel
- Emeka Egbuka
- Josh Simmons
Those all would’ve been better and more useful picks for this team. Jeanty may be fine, but he will now need a rebuilt offensive line, and the Raiders could’ve either worked on that or added a legit weapon in the passing game instead of wasting the pick on Jeanty.
It all spoke to a “win-now” mentality that unfortunately has not translated to wins. You don’t coax an old coach out of retirement, trade for and extend a QB in his mid-30s, and draft a running back sixth overall if you’re not ready to win. 12 weeks later, and the Raiders are tracking for another top-five pick.
Chip Kelly’s been fired. At this rate, Pete Carroll is unlikely to get a second season. GM John Spytek is probably going to be canned, too. Wholesale changes are likely, as the Raiders have messed up so catastrophically that it might have set the franchise back a few years.
