The Oakland Raiders have lost three straight games. And it’s a problem.

Not because they lost. But because of how they lost.

I’ve been preaching patience with this team all season long. I’ve been of the opinion that this was always a rebuilding year. And for most of the year, it felt like the team was ahead of schedule with the rebuild. So much so, that I said record doesn’t matter. What matters is how the team is playing.

And I still stand by that. It is still a rebuilding year. And how the team plays is still more important than what the final record is.

And that’s why these three losses are concerning. Not because the Raiders are on a losing streak. But because of how badly the Raiders were beaten.

In those three losses, the Raiders were outscored 116-33. And outside of the first half of Sunday’s game. the Raiders were never competitive in these games.

The worst part is that there’s blame to go around for these losses. You can’t blame the problems all on offense. They aren’t all on the defense either. It’s not just Derek Carr’s fault, or Jon Gruden’s. Every part of the team has contributed to these losses.

Though the defense has had it’s moments during the losses, they’re clearly still a huge work in progress. Both from the talent side and the coaching side.

But we’ve known that pretty much all season.

A major reason these losses are concerning is because of the offensive struggles. I can live with the defense being bad since it’s what I expected.

But the offense is supposed to be better than this. I’m not saying they should have scored enough to win these games. But I am saying they should have scored more than 33 points over three games. Especially when the Raiders only played one good defense over that stretch.

The reason many of us believed the Raiders were ahead of schedule was because of the offense. At the time, the offense looked like one of the better units in the league. Now, it looks like a group that can’t move the ball and can’t figure out why.

And I know some will point to injuries, but this is the NFL and every team has injuries. If you want to use that as an excuse then you can’t also be proud of wins over injury riddled teams like the Colts.

The fact of the matter is, the Raiders have played like one of the worst teams in the NFL the last three weeks. No, not just one unit or one player. The whole team. The coaching. The players. Everything.

But the good news is, the Raiders have some winnable games ahead. And again, they don’t have to win them. But they do have to look like an NFL team. They do have to show reasons to have confidence in what’s being built.

They can’t just go out and fail to be competitive like the last three weeks.