After a 3-0 start, it seemed like the playoffs for the Raiders were very, very likely. In fact, their odds to make it to the tournament sat at 63 percent going into Week 4. But a lot has happened since then.
The Raiders had lost two bad games in Weeks 4 and 5 and their head coach, Jon Gruden, resigned a week ago. However, the team showed their mental toughness in Week 6, dominating the Broncos in Denver to get to 4-2.
That was a big win for a number of reasons for the Raiders. They avoided a three-game losing streak. They defeated a division rival and they are now tied atop of the AFC West with the Los Angeles Chargers after they were dominated by the Ravens in Baltimore.
According to FiveThirtyEight, the Raiders now have a 55 percent chance of making the playoffs in 2021. The site predicts they will go 9-8 and just sneak into the playoffs. They also give the Raiders a 16 percent chance to win the division as both the Chargers and Chiefs look very beatable this season.
The schedule does get easier for the Raiders over the next few weeks with games against the Eagles and Giants with a bye week between. However, they still have games with the Chiefs (twice), Bengals, Cowboys and Chargers left on the schedule.
But if they can just win the games they are supposed to, like against the Eagles and Giants, this could very easily be a 10-win team in 2021. That would be quite the feat considering how much has gone wrong for this team over the last two weeks.
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