The Oakland Raiders have played three so-called do-or-die games this season (New England, Buffalo, Kansas City) and have lost all of them. Amazingly, they are still in the thick of the playoff race sitting one game behind the AFC West lead with three games remaining.

If the Raiders win out, they have a 57% percent chance of earning a postseason berth, 39 percent chance to win the division and 18 percent to earn a wildcard spot, according to the New York Times.

Honestly, it is doable. The Raiders would just have to beat a struggling Dallas Cowboys team at home, a Philadelphia Eagles team without Carson Wentz and a Los Angeles Chargers team in a then do-or-die situation. Maybe Oakland would get a victory on their fourth try in a must-win game.

But that won’t happen. The Raiders haven’t shown a shred of evidence that they could put together three victories in a row against three mediocre teams. And even if they could, should Raider Nation even want them to keep winning games to possibly have a shot at the postseason?

Is making a postseason push worth it?

The fan in me wants to win at any costs and make the postseason. But it would actually be more beneficial for the team to look putrid and finish the season on a losing streak. Also, if the team made the postseason it would probably look very similar to last season.

The ultimate goal for any franchise is to win a Super Bowl. If an organization doesn’t have the ability to win, then it’s more beneficial to lose and collect draft picks to assemble a Super Bowl team rather than just treading water to make the playoffs.

Coaching staff

There are rarely games in which one can easily spot what the Raiders’ plan as it gets stifled almost immediately. No one on the coaching staff, aside from perhaps John Pagano, has shown any ability to execute or even display a hint of a successful gameplan and identity.

In regards to Del Rio, what does he do for the team? He doesn’t seem to motivate the players; shown by getting whooped in meaningful games. He can’t dial up a creative gameplan to make mediocre players good and good players great. He hasn’t even helped Oakland eliminate penalties and become a more disciplined football team shown by the plethora of ejections.

With Jack Del Rio at the helm, Oakland is unlikely to ever win a Super Bowl. Maybe not even a division title considering Del Rio has never won one as head coach and has never hosted a home playoff game.

Teams who can’t win home-field advantage rarely make Super Bowl runs.

Worse is better

Since Del Rio still has three years on his contract and owner Mark Davis isn’t flushed with cash, it might be hard to imagine a scenario in which Del Rio is fired after 2017.

As such, the only way Del Rio gets fired is if the team is just so embarrassing that Davis has no choice but to clean house.

If Raider Nation wants to see a Super Bowl contending team next year that doesn’t get smashed consistently by Andy Reid-like coaches, maybe it is time to hope that the Raiders look like how they did against Kansas City for the remaining three games of the season.

The worse the team looks in the remaining games, the better the chances Del Rio is gone and Oakland’s Super Bowl chances improve for 2018.

Also see: Raiders still in range of top five draft pick