Pete Carroll About to Clinch His Worst Season as a Head Coach in College or the NFL

Stephen Douglas | Nov 18, 2025

Pete Carroll during the Raiders latest loss. He’s on pace for his worst season as a head coach. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Raiders lost to the Cowboys on Monday Night Football and dropped to 2-8 on the season. After beating the Patriots in Week 1, they've lost eight of their last nine games and are competing for the worst record in the NFL.

Las Vegas is currently on pace to finish with around four wins. Even on the off chance they turn things around, they'd need to win their final seven games to finish above .500, which is notable because finishing with a losing record is very rare for Raiders coach Pete Carroll.

In 19 seasons as an NFL head coach Carroll's teams have only finished with a losing record four times. In nine seasons at USC the Trojans never finished below .500.

The fewest wins a Pete Carroll team has ever had since he first became head coach of the Jets in 1994 was six. He went 6-10 in his one year with the Jets and then 6-6 in his first year at USC.

Raiders Remaining Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Opponent's Record
12	Nov. 23	vs. Browns	2-8
13	Nov. 30	@ Rams	7-4
14	Dec. 7	vs. Broncos	9-2
15	Dec. 14	@ Eagles	8-2
16	Dec. 21	@ Texans	5-5
17	TBD	vs. Giants	2-9
18	TBD	vs. Chiefs	5-5

As you can see, there are some very tough games on there with the Rams, Broncos and Eagles, plus the Texans and Chiefs who are both competing for wild-card spots. The Browns have a bad record and uninspiring quarterback play, but also have Myles Garrett and one of the top defenses in the NFL.

Winning four more games seems highly unlikely.

Pete Carroll's Worst Seasons as a Coach

If you wanted to get technical, in the eyes of the NCAA, Carroll and the Trojans went 0-1-0 in 2005 after they vacated 11 wins in Reggie Bush's Heisman-winning season. The only game that remains on his record from that season is the loss to Vince Young and Texas in one of the greatest games ever played. No such memory will last from this season in Las Vegas.

Team	Year	Record	Win Percentage
Jets	1994	6-10	.375
Seahawks	2021	7-10	.412
Seahawks	2011	7-9	.438
Seahawks	2010	7-9	.438
USC	2001	6-6	.500
Patriots	1999	8-8	.500

Pete Carroll's Contract

Carroll signed a three-year deal with a fourth-year option with the Raiders in January. The franchise went 4-13 last season and seems unlikely to improve on that record in Carroll's first year of his deal. Over the summer Carroll said that he didn't want anyone to give the team a grace period, but that's exactly what he'll need if he expects to come back next year.

At 74-years old Carroll is by far the oldest coach in the NFL, which is why it made sense for him to say he was going to "go after it and build this team as quickly as we can." So far that hasn't panned out and that it's necessarily all on Carroll.

General manager John Spytek didn't exactly build the best roster and Carroll said he was going to lean on Tom Brady for insights. Special teams coordinator Tom McMahon has already been fired. You have to wonder who is next and how long Carroll will coach into his current deal.

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