The Las Vegas Raiders gave it a run, but in the end, the Cincinnati Bengals snapped their respective playoff drought as they clinched a 26-19 win in the opening game of this season’s AFC wild-card round.

The Raiders once again faced dire struggles in taking advantage of their trips to the red zone. In the regular season, the Raiders’ inefficiency in the red zone often marred their performances on offense; they ranked at 22nd in the NFL in red zone touchdown percentage with a 37.4 percent figure.

Veteran quarterback Derek Carr guided the Raiders offense to five total trips to the red zone against the Bengals. Overall, Carr and company scored a mere one touchdown from their drives to this area of the field. From the costly penalties to the late interception thrown by the eighth-year passer that sealed the loss, it simply was not their day on the offensive side of the ball.

In speaking during his post-game press conference, Carr touched on the overall frustrations with the team’s play in the red zone.

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“I don't think penalties helped on some of them,” Carr said. “Talking about the red zone and all of that, everything is just frustrating right now.

“I didn't expect it to go this way. I didn't feel like it was going to go this way all during the game at any point.”

The season has now come to an end for the Raiders, which was one where they sure surpassed expectations across the board.

The Raiders will now have a multitude of notable dilemmas that they will need to address in the offseason, including on whether they plan to make Rich Bisaccia their permanent head coach.