Pete Carroll is processing Raiders’ 1-4 start ‘poorly’

When the Las Vegas Raiders brought Pete Carroll into the organization as head coach, there was an expectation that he was going to turn the team’s fortunes around.

Carroll had established a reputation as one of the soundest coaching minds of this century, with national championships and Super Bowl rings to his credit. He created cultures that embodied competition and excellence in virtually every aspect, and there was little to suggest he would not do the same with the Raiders. Carroll even boasted as such before the start of training camp.

“We’re gonna win a ton,” Carroll said. “We’re gonna win a bunch of games. I can’t even imagine anything [else]. I’ve been winning 10 games a year for 20 years or something. What are my expectations? We’re going to win a bunch.”

Only a few months later, and Carroll is already singing a much different tune.

What will it take to turn the Raiders around at this stage?

After the Raiders dropped their fourth straight game in a blowout loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, Carroll’s spark looked decidedly more muted than it had before.

“I’m processing it poorly, to tell you the truth, because I did expect to win right out of the chute,” Carroll said during his postgame presser.

“But what I’m seeing and what I’m feeling is, I know by the way we’re working — because I’ve watched a lot of teams work and develop — your system, your belief in it and knowing who you can count on and who you can trust and all of that, that is ongoing. It feels like we’re going in a good direction in that sense. It’s just not showing up here.”

The 1-4 start is the worst of Carroll’s coaching career, so this is uncharted territory even for him.

So far, Carroll has overseen a variety of problems that are all converging at the same time. The reunion with quarterback Geno Smith has been an unmitigated disaster so far, as he leads the league with nine interceptions after five games. Ashton Jeanty has crossed the 100-yard mark only once so far, a knee injury has wrecked Brock Bowers’s sophomore season, and the flaws in roster construction have lead to several major issues.

The challenge of building the Raiders back into a competitive unit might have been a little trickier than Carroll anticipated at first sight.