Way-too-early 2021 NFL Power Rankings: Rams, Packers, Chiefs chasing Buccaneers

It’s getting close to panic time for the Las Vegas Raiders. They are now three full seasons into their second tenure with Jon Gruden as the head coach — and Mike Mayock as the general manager — and they’re still looking for their first winning season.

This year, it felt as though they were finally going to break through since they were a hot team in the middle of the season. A three-game winning streak in November helped them improve to a record of 6-3 — and they were in line for a playoff berth. Unfortunately, things went south in a hurry for them after that.

Las Vegas lost five of their next six games with their only win in that stretch coming against the woeful New York Jets. And that one was a three-point win, so it wasn’t even very convincing. They also pulled off just one more win after that, which was another close call as they beat the Denver Broncos 32-31 in Week 17 to improve to 8-8.

Of course, if we were being optimistic, we can say Gruden has improved every season. He went from 4-12 in 2018 to 7-9 in 2019 before this .500 campaign. That means this is a big season for him and the team. If they can finally get over the hump, good things will happen. If they don’t, and Gruden has another losing campaign, things might get testy in Sin City.