October 5, 2026 - 7:00 am

Las Vegas Raiders coach Klint Kubiak went into Sunday’s pivotal AFC West clash against the Kansas City Chiefs knowing he wanted to be aggressive whenever possible.

He was true to his word for most of Sunday’s 30-27 loss at Allegiant Stadium.

Until he wasn’t.

Kubiak made several bold choices, including eschewing the inane and antiquated coachspeak axiom of never taking points off the board.

Then he got cautious in a key moment of the game, opting to kick a field goal on fourth-and-2 from the Kansas City 30-yard line with 4:58 to play that gave the Raiders a 19-17 lead.

The decision got even more questionable when the Raiders then kicked the ball through the end zone to give the Chiefs the ball at the 35.

Kansas City answered with a touchdown drive and then scored again 23 seconds later after a turnover to take control of the game.

Kubiak said the option to settle for the three points was influenced by his decision earlier in the second half when the Raiders had made a field goal only to accept a Kansas City penalty and send the offense back on the field to try to pick up a first down.

A Kirk Cousins pass fell incomplete and the Raiders were left without a point on the drive.

“We fell short the first time,” Kubiak said of the later decision to kick a field goal. “Wanted to get points.”

Every analytically minded football analyst winced. Going for the field goal actually was supported by several fourth-down win probability models, but coaches tend to find the most difficulty when they start veering too far into guessing rather than having a plan.

And the decision to kick certainly seemed to go against Kubiak’s desire to stay aggressive.

“There’s a point where I took three points off the board,” he said. “That was part of the game plan.

“We were going to be aggressive going into the game. I don’t regret it. I regret not getting it.”

Analytics models were basically split on that decision.

Kubiak also left his offense on the field on a fourth-and-1 in the first half at their own 39-yard line, a more clear-cut mathematical decision. The Raiders were successful on that play and it led to a field goal, three points the Raiders would not have had if they had chosen to punt.

“We trust him and he trusts us,” defensive end Maxx Crosby said. “It’s not always going to go your way. That’s the game of football. But ultimately we have our standards and what we believe in and how we operate and what we do, but we believe 100 million percent in Klint making those decisions. And it goes both ways. You start to build a culture and a winning team when you are on the same page. We fully have his back.”

Quarterback Kirk Cousins said he would be lamenting not picking up the fourth-down opportunity in the third quarter that Kubiak did allow his offense to try instead of wondering why they didn’t go for it the second time.

He believes he could have completed a pass had he been able to get through his progressions quicker.

“I leave those decisions to the coaching staff, but those are tough calls and you’re always going to have the shoulda, woulda, coulda,” Cousins said. “It’s our job to execute and make the coach right.

“Looking at the tablet pictures, you start to wonder if I had gotten to him quicker, could I have squeezed it on him? That’s one of the plays I’ll be driving home thinking about.”

Wide receiver Tre Tucker, who had four catches for 44 yards, said the preference for the offense will always be to stay on the field and try to pick up a first down.

“He’s aggressive and I love that,” he said. “That’s our mentality and we’re not going to change.”

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.