The Raiders’ limp, lifeless, and frankly embarrassing 34-14 loss to the Buffalo Bills Sunday provided some clarity to Raiders fans.

Ten days after Oakland’s Thursday night tease, we now know that this Raiders season — a campaign that began with so much promise and potential — is effectively over. At 3-5, with four ugly losses in October and little sign that a turnaround is imminent against a hellacious second-half schedule, one can firmly say that the playoffs are a pipe dream for this Raiders team, which has to be considered the biggest disappointment in the NFL this year.

But when it comes to whom Raiders fans should blame for this dissatisfying season, there isn’t much clarity at all.

So who is responsible for this mess? Have a comment about this? Join the conversation at our Oakland Raiders Facebook page.

The truth is that everyone with the Raiders — top to bottom — deserves a piece of this action.

The go-to scapegoat for this season’s failures is first-year offensive coordinator Todd Downing, and fan zealousness aside, that makes plenty of sense — he’s the new guy. When doing the simple deduction between last year and this year, Downing’s promotion from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator stands out.

The new OC has certainly struggled to establish a reliable or formidable offensive identity for the Raiders this season, and after an inspired game plan last Thursday against Kansas City, where Downing moved wide receiver Amari Cooper around in formations and quarterback Derek Carr around on designed bootlegs, the Raiders offense regressed back into a predictable, underwhelming attack Sunday against a solid Buffalo defense, dinking and dunking their way into 367 total yards but also seven-straight failed possessions, bookended by a touchdown on the first drive of the game and on the first drive of the fourth quarter.

Did the @RAIDERS win? I blacked out after the 40th screen pass. — Ice Cube (@icecube) October 29, 2017

The Raiders offense was pegged as a unit that could be the best in the NFL this season. Those expectations were not unfounded, but they have been nowhere near actualized.

The Raiders have one of the best offensive lines in football (still), established receivers, and a quarterback with elite arm talent, and yet the Raiders offense was a steady stream of running back check-down passes on Sunday.

Why was that?

Head coach Jack Del Rio didn’t have an answer. Literally. When asked why the Raiders stopped throwing the ball downfield consistently after the first drive of the game, Del Rio responded “I can’t answer to that. Nobody was saying don’t take a shot.”

Carr had an answer, but it won’t satisfy anyone. The Raiders quarterback said that the check-down passes were necessary because the Bills defense, like every other team that’s (correctly) played the Raiders, was playing soft zone coverage — daring Carr to turn the ball over. (Even so, he did turn it over — twice.)

Downing is no doubt part of the Raiders’ disappointing first half, but Sunday’s game showed Carr shouldn’t escape criticism either. Reading this on your phone? Get our free mobile app from the Apple app store or the Google Play store.

The fourth-year quarterback might have a penchant for late-game magic, but despite a huge $125 million contract, for the first 50-or-so minutes of games, his play is still shockingly inconsistent — he can be blindingly brilliant and aggressive or a worse-than-replacement level signal caller on any given drive and there’s little rhyme or reason as to why that’s the case, outside of the quarterback’s clear lack of pocket poise. (And that can’t be the overarching reason, can it?)

Carr has not progressed year-over-year, despite the new contract, and while Downing will probably take the heat for that with the fans, the quarterback himself cannot be considered blameless. Carr knows that the Raiders go as he goes, and so far this season, he’s averaging fewer than six plays per drive.

Does that make him the scapegoat? After all, Carr can’t do it alone.

Cooper, after that “breakout game” against Kansas City, was shut down by a rookie cornerback Sunday, catching five passes for 48 yards — a line more indicative of his first six games this year. He certainly hasn’t progressed like many (including myself) expected.

Marshawn Lynch wasn’t even there Sunday — he’s been underwhelming this season, but Lynch was suspended for a must-win game where he could have proven useful.

The Raiders offensive line isn’t exactly covering themselves in glory either — how many times did Raiders backs get hit in the backfield or at the line of scrimmage Sunday? Oakland backs were fortunate to average 3.9 yards per carry against Buffalo, and that’s been the tale of this season.

The offense has been underwhelming, for sure, but if only that was the sole cause for concern — frankly, this offense has an impossible standard to meet weekly because of how poor this Raiders defense is.

Downing doesn’t coach those guys, so who does that blame fall upon?

Defensive coordinator Ken Norton deserves plenty — he hasn’t shown the ability to schematically adjust since joining the Raiders in 2015.

Injuries certainly haven’t helped, either but you can’t blame the training staff for that. Sometimes you’re just unlucky.

But the lack of depth on this defensive roster is staggering. Is that on general manager Reggie McKenzie’s or does it fall on the coaching staff?

It’s ultimately the players who have to execute. Against the Chargers two weeks ago, Del Rio said that the Raiders knew nearly every play Los Angeles ran before the snap down the stretch — the Raiders defense still couldn’t stop them.

And halfway through the season, Oakland is the only team in the NFL without an interception. Sunday against the Bills, they didn’t have a sack, despite playing a quarterback who holds onto the ball as long as anyone in the league.

Those are execution issues. Those are player issues.

But how is Del Rio making it better? The head coach is a former defensive coordinator and many in Alameda joke that Del Rio is the Raiders’ real defensive coordinator. If Norton is on the hot seat for this leaky Raiders defense, then Del Rio should be as well — he’s just as culpable.

And as a head coach, he’s yet to show the ingenuity necessary to take a good team and make it great.

Del Rio deserves plenty of credit for his role in making the Raiders a good team — and all things considered, they are still a good team — but what has he shown that indicates that he take this team to the next level?

This is a coach (and a quarterback, coincidently) whose best (and near-only) road win over the three years came against Brock Osweiler.

I’m not in the meeting rooms — I’m not privy to the nitty, gritty details — but I’m yet to hear Del Rio say anything seriously insightful this season. I know he plays his cards close to the vest, but that’s concerning, no?

And his mood shifts between wins (jubilant, almost cocky) and losses (downtrodden, happy to deflect blame) aren’t indicative of head coaching greatness, either.

But Del Rio isn’t going to lose his job, barring a total collapse, because of the man at the top of the Raiders pyramid: team owner Mark Davis.

The man who inherited the franchise ultimately values loyalty above all, and Del Rio knows how to play that game well.

When the team is winning, there’s no problem with the Raiders organization’s brand of cronyism, but this was the first time in a long time anyone expected anything more than mediocrity from the Raiders and the spotlight is illuminating the organization’s cracks. The truth is that this Raiders team has always been gimcrack and the gilding put on one of the most dysfunctional franchises in sports is eroding.

And if it erodes any further, do Raiders fans trust that The Heir has the vision and fortitude to make the tough decisions that could prove necessary in the coming weeks and months?

I wouldn’t.

So yes, there’s plenty of blame to be handed out. Everyone owns some stake in this debacle of a season, but I wouldn’t count on expedient solutions, because no one — not a single person — in this Raiders organization has shown themselves to be a problem solver for an issue like the one that is in front of this team right now.