The Denver Broncos defeated the Las Vegas Raiders 24-17 on Sunday. At first glance, there’s nothing particularly notable about that outcome.
The 10-2 Broncos were overwhelming favorites over the 2-10 Raiders, and things played out mostly as expected.
We will note, however, that the game’s ending was somewhat strange. After Denver methodically took a 24-7 lead in the fourth quarter, Las Vegas scored a touchdown with a little over two minutes left to make it 24-14. After a Broncos drive took a minute off the clock, the Raiders got the ball back on their own 28-yard line with 58 seconds remaining.
Kenny Pickett, in for an injured Geno Smith, started meticulously driving the Raiders down the field as the clock ticked down. On 2nd and 10 from their own 41, Pickett completed a 26-yard pass to Tyler Lockett that put them at Denver’s 33 with eight seconds on the clock. A Broncos defender was assessed a delay-of-game penalty, which put the ball at the Broncos’ 28-yard line.
With mere seconds left on the clock and no way to affect the outcome of the game, Las Vegas sent out its field goal kicker, Daniel Carlson, who netted a 46-yard field goal as time expired, making it 24-17.
BAD BEAT OF THE YEAR 🚨
The Raiders kicked a field goal as time expired to cut the lead to 7.
The Broncos were 7.5-point favorites and the total was 40.5 🤮pic.twitter.com/owmkF86OAu
— Covers (@Covers) December 8, 2025
The reason we brought all of that up is that a lot of people bet on the Broncos to win by 7.5 or 8.5 points, which means that unnecessary, meaningless field goal was a bad beat for the ages.
One person who apparently had that bet was Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy, and he was rather displeased with the situation.
PRISON FOR EVERYBODY!! THAT’S THE BIGGEST RIG JOB IVE EVER SEEN. INVESTIGATE THE NFL. INVESTIGATE PETE CARROLL. IVESTIGATE THE RAIDERS!!! pic.twitter.com/hpEr1JOiqm
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) December 7, 2025
“That’s the worst beat of all time!” said a frantic Portnoy as the end of the game played behind him. “You have to investigate the Raiders! Investigate the Raiders! What are they doing? What the f**k? That’s the worst beat of all time! That is cheating! What the f**k?!?”
“Pete Carroll should be in f**king prison! Prison for Pete Carroll. The refs, everybody… this is prison! There’s 16 seconds left in the game… The spread’s eight and a half. They spiked the ball by the way, they ran up and spiked it… PRISON, PETE CARROLL! MURDER PETE CARROLL! I want Pete Carroll murdered.”
Portnoy also made a separate video breaking down all of the supposed shady things that happened in the final minute of the game.
This is honestly prison. I’ve never seen a shadier sequence in my life. Prison for Pete Carroll and that ref pic.twitter.com/UvZFnMwFl8
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) December 8, 2025
For what it’s worth, Portnoy is not alone in his thinking.
Just saw the end of the Broncos-Raiders game. There should be an FBI investigation AND a 30-for-30 on how Vegas covered +7.5.
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) December 8, 2025
For those of us not addled by gambling brain, it seems the Raiders, inspired by their late touchdown, were trying to get one more score on the off chance they had enough time to do an onside kick and hope for the best. They obviously ran out of time to the point where the field was meaningless. However, you can see the logic in there, even if it was futile. As for the refs calling a delay-of-game penalty with four seconds, that seems a bit much, to be honest, but we’re not ready to send anyone to prison. Yet.
