This is it.
It comes down to one game for the Las Vegas Raiders.
A win and the Raiders guarantee that they are in the playoffs. Or maybe they’ll find out before their Sunday night game against the Los Angeles Chargers if they are already in — if the Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers lose in an earlier game
Las Vegas, according to the NFL’s playoff scenarios, clinches a postseason berth with:
▪ A win OR
▪ A tie plus an Indianapolis loss OR
▪ Indy loss plus a Pittsburgh loss or tie
Regardless, the Raiders have plenty to play for in the season finale in Week 18.
The Raiders could get the fifth or sixth seeds with a win and wins by other teams. All of those scenarios were outlined earlier in the week.
The Raiders are also looking for their first 10-win season since the 2016 season when they went 12-4 and clinched their most recent playoff berth.
Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby is well aware that reaching the postseason is how teams and players ultimately are judged.
“When you get to the NFL, that’s what you think about: Super Bowls, playoffs, things of that nature,” he said. “Ever since I got here, we’ve been close, but now we’re closer than we’ve been. We’re not there yet.”
The past two years, the Raiders were indeed close, but finished those seasons 7-9 (2019) and 8-8 (2020).
Here they are, knocking again on the playoff door.
In the Chargers, the Raiders face a team that also needs a win (or a tie) to get in the playoffs.
The game is a rematch from earlier in the season, when the Chargers defeated the Raiders 28-14 at SoFi Stadium.
The Raiders, as they often have this season, started slowly in that game only to show a little more life in the second half. But they know this time around, they need to start quickly and physically.
It is “one of those games that will be remembered forever,” Raiders defensive end Yannick Ngakoue said. “Sunday night football, both teams, you win and you’re in. Everybody’s level of their play should step up tremendously on our side of the ball as well as offensive side of the ball. Hopefully we can get a win out of it.”
Odds, TV and Raiders-Chargers prediction
The entire nation will get to see the game. In Fresno, the game can be seen on KSEE 24, with kickoff at 5:20 p.m.
The Chargers enter as a 3-point favorite by Draft Kings, with the over/under at 49.5.
As was the case last week against the Colts, we ask: Who will want it more?
It is another chance for the Raiders to develop a homefield advantage at Allegiant Stadium, where they are just 4-4. The Raiders already have clinched a winning regular-season record overall; can they now do the same at home?
For the Raiders to win this game, they need to play a complete game at Allegiant, something that really hasn’t happened except for their Week 7 game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
The defense will be key, but so is the offense, led by Derek Carr, who might be thinking of what Chargers linebacker Joey Bosa said after their earlier matchup this season. Bosa commented at the time, after the quarterback was sacked four times, that Carr “kind of shuts down” when faced with defensive pressure.
Bosa backtracked a bit this week and even complimented Carr, but it was already said and Carr doesn’t forget.
Carr had countered earlier this year that the Bosa comments “did piss me off” and pointed to the rematch that finally arrives this week.
Just like one of the key goals last week, the offense needs to have as clean a game as possible and the running game needs to be as effective as it was in a 17-13 win over the Denver Broncos in Week 16 and last week’s 23-20 win over Indianapolis.
Can the Raiders extend their winning streak to four and make the playoffs? We think it happens.
Prediction: Raiders 27, Chargers 23