That dreadful showing from the Las Vegas Raiders’ offense against the Cleveland Browns felt like the moment everything finally snapped. Cleveland beat them up for four quarters, and the front office had seen enough and sacked offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. Now, after Greg Olson has taken over as the interim offensive coordinator, he is wasting no time in fixing the Raiders’ offense with quarterback Geno Smith.

“He [Geno Smith] and I are both on the same page, and we know that we gotta get better in the QB room,” Olson said via Silver & Black Sports Network.

It’s worth remembering how this all began. The Raiders gave up a third-round pick to Seattle to bring in Geno Smith, hoping experience and stability would fix a position that’s been a revolving door for years. On paper, it made plenty of sense. In reality, almost nothing has improved.

Smith has thrown for 2,367 yards, 13 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. He looks hesitant. He’s passing up throws he used to make without a second thought. The deep balls have almost disappeared from his game. Olson knows this isn’t who Smith is supposed to be, and unlocking him is step one in fixing the offense.

However, there’s no fixing Smith if he’s swallowing mouthfuls of turf every Sunday. The pass protection has been among the worst in the league. Smith has already been sacked 41 times, including ten last week alone. That number tells you plenty about where the real problems live.

Yes, Chip Kelly’s scheme created issues. But pretending this is all on him would be dishonest. The roster has taken too many hits. Injuries wiped out two of their best linemen. Dylan Parham is giving them snaps on one good leg. And behind them? Not much. This is an offense with no margin for error, and you saw the result against Cleveland.

Still, you can’t allow your quarterback to get hit ten times in one game. If Olson is going to fix Geno Smith, the work has to start now. But nothing changes unless the guys in front of him give him more than a couple of seconds of daylight.

As for the Raiders, while they did get rid of Chip Kelly, it wasn’t without some controversy.

Pete Carroll clears his stance on Chip Kelly allegations

Chip Kelly’s firing didn’t exactly shock anyone in the building. The Raiders fell to 2–9, and an offense averaging 15 points a game usually leads to meetings in offices with the door closed. What made this one interesting was what came out after the dismissal. There were reports that Kelly wasn’t just struggling, but actively mixing up play calls.

“I was told where Chip Kelly was repeatedly botching the play calls. He’s supposed to be, for instance, tagging a motion on a play so the receiver’s on the left, not the right. He forgets to say it, so Geno Smith’s going to the line of scrimmage and going ‘This doesn’t look right,’” insider Tom Pelissero said on the Rich Eisen Show.

“There’s times where Chip, I was told, on several occasions called a play that was either not in the game plan or not installed at all,” he added.

But head coach Pete Carroll was quick to dismiss any controversy.

“There is no truth to the comments about Chip and any play-calling issues,” Carroll told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Thursday through text.

That’s why the next few games under Greg Olson will be revealing. If the offense suddenly looks functional, that would tell its own story. If it doesn’t, then this goes far beyond Chip Kelly and into the bigger questions about roster construction and the ceiling of this unit and Pete Carroll himself.