OAKLAND, Calif. _ Just three weeks ago, the Raiders were one of three undefeated teams left in the NFL.
Now they're on a precipitous downfall with no clear-cut solution to stop the bleeding, and arguably one of the best football teams marches into the Coliseum in just four days.
Everyone within the team insists the Raiders are so close. According to Sunday's score, a 17-16 loss to the Chargers (2-4) at the Coliseum, that would be so. Yet four straight losses have Oakland light years from where it started at 2-0. The 5-1 Kansas City Chiefs visit for a primetime matchup on Thursday night. The 2-4 Raiders, after Nick Novak's field goal split the uprights as time expired, suddenly occupy the AFC West's cellar.
Not long ago, the Raiders were thought to be a Super Bowl contender. But through just six weeks, Oakland has already equaled last year's loss total.
"If you ever go into a fight and you get punched, you don't just stop," Carr said. "If you do then that says something about you."
Regardless of their actions or their fight or anything else, the Raiders aren't good on offense. The supposed strong suit of this team has posted fewer than 20 points in four straight games. Almost three of those have been with a Pro Bowl quarterback at the helm.
For the second time this year, Carr threw an interception on his first pass of the game. A pick ended the Raiders' first drive of the second half, too. Carr didn't own a single two-interception game last season but has two such games of the five he's played this year.
Carr, who returned after missing only one game with reportedly three transverse process fractures in his back, insisted his ailing lower back didn't hinder him.
"It's good to have him back, I know that," Raiders' coach Jack Del Rio said. "He miss-threw a couple things, but I thought for the most part he was fairly sharp."
After being outscored 31-3 in the first quarters in Weeks 3-5, Oakland struck first on Sunday. A Carr-to-Crabtree 23-yard connection put the Raiders ahead for their first lead since the final buzzer against the Jets four weeks ago. The fourth lead change of the day three quarters later saw Oakland take a two-point lead after Cordarrelle Patterson's 47-yard touchdown run, but Jon Condo's errant snap led to Giorgio Tavecchio's first missed extra point of the season.
The Chargers, notorious for losing close games with Philip Rivers at the helm, had less than five minutes to work with. They only needed a field goal to take the lead. Melvin Gordon's 25th rush, a five-yard carry for a first down, gave the Chargers a chip shot. Four seconds remained and Novak had a chance to win from 32 yards. And a field goal is exactly what they got.
"It just seems like when it rains it pours for us right now," Condo said. "Nothing has gone right for us."
