SAN DIEGO -- When trying to put the frustration of a 10th consecutive loss this year -- and 16th straight defeat going back to last season -- Oakland Raiders safety Charles Woodson broke into song.

“You ever seen that movie ‘The Five Heartbeats?’ Remember that song?” he said before singing the chorus, “Nights like this I wish [that] raindrops would fall.”

Who knew Woodson could carry a tune as well as a football? The playmaking safety held onto the last word for a second before smiling and laughing.

“Hey, man, it’s hard,” he said after the Raiders' 13-6 loss to the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. “It’s been a long time since this team has felt a victory. We’re all feeling it. You try to keep a positive attitude, keep a smile on your face to keep from crying. It’s the nature of the business. It happens. We’re not the first team to be going through this type of thing. We’ll find a way to get up out of it somehow and try to make the most positive situation out of this season that we can.”

A trip through the Raiders' locker room after another close-but-so-far defeat offered glimpses of frustration but no reservoir of despondency, largely because they could look each other in the eyes and honestly say they were giving maximum effort.

But effort alone does not win games. Execution does, and the Raiders have been unable to consistently perform at a high level. Against the Chargers, it started on the first play from scrimmage, when the ball was snapped to quarterback Derek Carr in a shotgun formation before he was ready. It resulted in a fumble recovery the Chargers turned into a touchdown and 7-0 lead two plays later.

It didn’t get much better for the Oakland offense. The unit was just 3-of-15 on third down and gained only 156 net yards through the first three-and-a-half quarters. Of its 13 possessions, nine ended in four plays or fewer. Only three reached San Diego territory.

Overall, the offense has been held to 14 or fewer points in each of its past three games, and its running game remains the worst in the league, though second-year back Latavius Murray did show flashes of promise with consecutive carries of 14 and 23 yards late in the third quarter.

As simple as it would’ve been to point the finger at the nearly invisible running game and the struggles of the rookie Carr, Raiders defenders chose to put the loss on their shoulders.

“Defensively, we’ve got to find a way to get our offense out of our own end zone,” defensive end Justin Tuck said in reference to the Raiders' first seven offensive possessions inside their own 20-yard line. “We didn’t give up a lot of points, but we didn’t flip the field and give our offense an easy field. Their defense gave them an easy field, and they got seven off it [following the first-quarter fumble recovery]. That was the difference in the game.”

If there is a positive for the Raiders, it is that no one appears to have made vacation plans for the offseason. There is an abundance of pride to go with a dearth of victories, even with the surging Kansas City Chiefs coming to town Thursday night.

“My heart feels for every single person on this team, [especially] when you watch each and every person on this team fight,” defensive end Antonio Smith said. “One thing I’ve always believed and has been instilled in me since I’ve been playing this game is when you line up out there on a field, a man against a man, a grown man against another grown man, you’re out there to whip that grown man. You ain’t out there to play with him. You ain’t out there to go toe-to-toe. You’re out there to dominate. I just think that I’m going to play that way till my dying day.”

“I love the fact of how this team comes to work every day and keeps their spirits high when everything around them seems to be collapsing,” Tuck said. “We just continue to fight. And I believe we’re going to crack this rock soon. I really do. You can’t sit here and sourpuss on yourself because we’ve got three nights before we’ve got to play one of the best teams in the country. What are you going to do?”

If you’re Woodson, you sing a little song, then go back to work.