Will Raiders make the playoffs? Exploring Week 12 AFC standings
With an interim head coach, the Las Vegas Raiders are on the rise once again. While the team was one of just a handful to make the playoffs with an interim head coach in 2021, with Rich Bisaccia, such a feat appears to be almost impossible. However, for a roster of players who have done it before, they might be the chosen ones if a few things go their way.
Here's a look at the team's position now and what they need to have happen to stay alive into the NFL's sudden elimination period.
Where do the Las Vegas Raiders sit in the AFC playoff picture?
To make the playoffs, Las Vegas needs to be one of the top seven teams in the conference. While adding the seventh seed makes things a bit easier in 2023, the competition remains fierce for five or six teams in the hunt for wild card seeding.
Currently, at 5-6, Las Vegas is in 12th place in the AFC playoff picture. As such, they'll need to leapfrog five teams to sneak into the playoffs. The seventh seed currently is the Pittsburgh Steelers who are 6-4 and riding a loss to the Cleveland Browns. In general, it takes about nine wins at a bare minimum to get to a de facto postseason game in Week 18.
Sometimes, nine wins are enough. Other times, it takes ten wins. The Raiders, while wanting ten wins, might get away with nine as a baseline. However, part of that is needing the schedule to cooperate.
What does the Las Vegas Raiders remaining schedule look like?
Unfortunately for Las Vegas, one of their two toughest remaining games on the NFL schedule kicks off the team's final stretch of games. The Raiders face the Kansas City Chiefs, and while they are a bit more vulnerable this season, they're still 7-3 and a tough out.
After that, they face Joshua Dobbs and the Minnesota Vikings. The Broncos knocked them off, but it took a miraculous fourth quarter. Can the Raiders be as clutch?
The Raiders will then face Justin Herbert, and with a record of 4-6, they may be the easiest opponent left. Following that, they travel to Arrowhead to play the Chiefs in the toughest game of the season. They may have a chance to knock off two wild card candidates in consecutive weeks with games against the currently 5-5 Colts and 5-5 Broncos in the final two games of the regular season.
Over their final six games, Las Vegas needs to win at least four of them to have a chance at 9-8. The two losses are most likely to come against the Chiefs, but then they'll have to beat the Vikings, Chargers, Colts, and Broncos.
It isn't impossible, but it's going to take perfect focus, and if the team can upset the Chiefs with Aidan O'Connell, their odds of making the postseason rise dramatically.