Rich Bisaccia Dismisses Raiders Playing for Tie vs. Chargers to Clinch Playoff Spot

AP Photo/Rick Scuteri

Las Vegas Raiders interim head coach Rich Bisaccia isn’t concerning himself with a scenario that could see the Raiders reach the playoffs by tying the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night.

The Week 18 finale is setting up to be a win-or-go-home scenario for both the Raiders and the Chargers, but there is a way they could both only need a tie to qualify for the postseason.

If the Indianapolis Colts lose to the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier in the day, a tie in the Raiders vs. Chargers game will get both teams into the playoffs as wild cards.

In response to being presented with that scenario, Bisaccia said the following, per ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez:

“I don’t think I ever passed math, so I don’t even know what the hell you just talked about. All I know is we’re really excited about our opportunity in front of us on Sunday night, and we’re going to look to put our best foot forward. We’re going to look to put a product on the field that all of Raider Nation can be proud of. So that’s kind of our focus right now.”

While the scenario is possible, it seems unlikely since the 9-7 Colts are 15.5-point favorites against the 2-14 Jaguars.

It should be noted, however, that Indianapolis has not won a road game against the Jags since 2014.

As of now, the Raiders and Chargers are tied in the standings with matching 9-7 records after Las Vegas upset the Colts on the road last week and L.A. beat the Denver Broncos at home.

The Chargers hold the tiebreaker, meaning they technically own the No. 7 seed as of now. If the Colts beat the Jaguars, the Raiders would need to beat the Chargers at home to make the playoffs, and the Chargers would have to either beat or tie the Raiders to make the playoffs.

In their previous meeting this season, the Chargers defeated the Raiders 28-14 in Los Angeles in Week 4.

Ties are a rare occurrence in the NFL, as there has only been one tie in each of the past three seasons. Neither the Raiders nor Chargers have played a tie game since 1973, which was before the advent of overtime.