For most teams, a 1-4 start is a death knell. Teams don’t often come back from three games below .500, especially in the AFC with so many competitive teams.
However, the Raiders aren’t like most teams. Their losses have all been close and they’ve gone toe-to-toe against opponents like the Chiefs, Chargers and Titans.
So how likely is it that the Raiders can make a run after their Week 6 bye week and get back into the playoff hunt? Better than you would think.
According to a recent article by ESPN, they ranked every team and gave their odds of making the playoffs. While the Raiders came in at No. 26, ESPN still gave them a 31.8 percent chance of making the playoffs this season. Here is what they had to say about the team going into their bye:
“The Raiders’ start would not exactly be a recipe for postseason success. Not saying it’s impossible, but only one team since 2000 began a season 0-3, as the Raiders did this year, and rallied to make the playoffs.
Now, the AFC West might not be the beast we all thought it was in the preseason, but we still have 12 weeks to go to figure it all out. And divisional games like Monday night matter. “
The good news for the Raiders is that their schedule does get a lot softer over the next few weeks. They are likely to be favored in each of their next five games. If they can go 4-1 during that stretch, they’ll be sitting at .500 going into the final week of November.
A playoff berth for the Raiders is still possible. But they need to play a whole lot better over the next month and beat the teams they are supposed to beat coming out of the bye week.
