Week 12 wasn’t kind to the Oakland Raiders. Not only did they lose in humiliating fashion, but it was a game that the Raiders were favored in and needed to win to stay in the No. 6 seed in the AFC wild-card hit.
Several other wild-card contenders had big games in Week 12 as the Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, and Tennessee Titans all secured wins on Sunday. According to the New York Times playoff simulator, the Raiders playoff odds have dropped from 60 percent on Sunday morning, all the way down to 24 percent.
What is so discouraging about the Week 12 loss is that now Oakland will travel to Kansas City to face the Chiefs in what is essentially a must-win game. If Oakland were to lose that contest, they would drop to 6-6, and their playoff odds would decrease to 12 percent.
Oakland certainly isn’t out of the playoff hunt by any means, but their loss to the Jets set them back in a big way. Now, the team will need to steal a few wins the rest of the way as they will likely need to finish 10-6 to earn a wild-card berth. We shall see if Jon Gruden can get his team to win four of the next five games to make the playoffs.
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