The Raiders were founded in Oakland, CA. in 1960 as part of the AFL. In 1965 the team would have its first winning record at 8-5-1. The next season they would follow up that success with a 13-1 record and an AFL championship. That would give them a spot in Super Bowl 2 where they lost to the Green Bay Packers.
The merger between the AFL and NFL was completed in 1970 and the Raiders set out to make a statement right away, The first year in the league they won the division. The team became a dominant force in the AFC, making it to the conference championship game every year from 1973 to 1977. Through this era, the Raiders and Steelers formed a rivalry that went far beyond being a sporting contest. The two teams literally hated each other. In 1976 The Raiders started the season with a win over the hated Steelers and ended it by raising the Lombardi trophy.
In 1982 the team move to Los Angeles. Other than the city, nothing else changed as the Raiders were back in the playoffs in their first year in their new home and the following year were back as Super Bowl champs. In ’84 they went to the wildcard and in ’85 they won the division, but then a decline came. Four straight seasons without a winning record to close out the decade. However, the 1990s were better for the team as they reversed the previous four years and instead had four straight winning seasons. Two with playoff appearances and one wildcard.
The Raiders returned home to Oakland in 1995. They did not start well with three consecutive seasons at or below .500. Then Jon Gruden was hired and the team began seeing improvements on the field. In 2000 and 2001 the Raiders were back in the playoffs. In ’02, Gruden left to coach the Tampa Buccaneers. Bill Callahan was promoted to his position. Callahan did well, taking the team to an 11-5 record, winning the division, and going on to the Super Bowl. In a cruel twist of fate, Grudens Bucs were the team they would face. Since Gruden had designed the offense he knew all of the plays they were going to call in each situation and the Bucs won fairly easily.
After that Super Bowl loss, things would go south quickly for the Men in Black. They went through a string of seasons at .500 or less and a string of coaching changes. In 2016, with rumors of another relocation swirling, the team somehow managed to focus on the game and came up with a winning season and a return to the wildcard game.
In 2020 the team moved to Las Vegas. It was a strange start to their new home as they had to play in an empty stadium due to COVID policies. 2021 was just as crazy with off-the-field distractions such as investigations and legal issues. Somehow the Raiders were again able to focus and made the playoffs. 2022 saw a lot of changes with a new general manager, a new coach in Josh McDaniels, and a new defensive coordinator. It appears the Raiders are setting themselves up to build on their 2021 playoff run, and now that they are comfortable in their new home, there is no reason to doubt they will be back in form.
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