Los Angeles Raiders History: The late 80's Revisited

Sometimes, in the Raiders history, you'll see spots that defy logic. Choices made reflecting on the club but as well causes ripples that eventually come back to haunt the team.

For today's lesson, we'll start by looking at the 1985 Raiders squad. First to mention is Marcus Allen. In this season, he was on fire, rushing for over 1750 yards, 11 rushing touchdowns, and three TD catches—all around stellar play.

Next to mention is Todd Christensen, another pro bowler, who had 82 catches. Dokie Williams, Wide out, had 48 catches...but both had over 900 yards receiving.

The team, as a whole, had a 12-4 record...so, what went wrong?

The first weak link, anyone within the Raider Nation, was a guy named Marc Wilson. As a QB, he was drafted in the first round, 15th overall, in 1980.

Jim Plunkett, for his age, was supposed to be a stopgap.  Instead, Plunkett seemed to make a habit of replacing him in an injury filled career.

Also, there was a disturbing trend that Marc couldn't shake. His TD to INT ratio was causing a lot of dismay. But most, simply hoped he wouldn't blow a game with an errant pass.

So, going into the playoffs for 1985, the Raiders were at home against a Patriots team.  The Patriots, 11-5, came to LA and left with a win...a 27-20 victory that also started the cracks between Allen and Davis.

To this day, I do not know if Davis held onto Marc Wilson because he believed the QB could turn his season around, or if he simply was frustrated with the embarrassing loss in LA...only Davis knows.

So into the following year. The Raiders, seemed ready to go beyond last year, started out good. They had gotten to 8-4 when the wheels came off.

Losing two division games and dropping three close games in all...the Raiders had to watch the playoffs, instead of taking part. Allen also was dealing with a few issues.

He failed to break the 1000 yard mark but part of this was due to playing in only 13 games. Also, Jim Plunkett and Marc Wilson split starting duties, eight games each.

Plunkett had a better percentage than Wilson.  But Plunkett was now 39 years old, as Wilson was only 29...the Raiders were starting to wonder if replacing Wilson would solve the problem...Plunkett couldn't play forever.

Finally, 1987 came along. This proved to be Tom Flores' final year. In a way, I think he must have been relieved with the stress and the last three years turning to chaos so fast.

For the Raiders, this last season also saw the end of Plunkett's career. Ironically, he never got to play a game in 1987, and the experience showed the Raiders sank to 5-10.  But there were a few bright spots.

Allen had a new running mate in Bo Jackson. Vince Evans made his first appearance. And Marc Wilson, somehow, threw more touchdowns than picks in the season.

However, as said...with the damage, Tom Flores left Oakland. Davis, deciding to shake things up, brought in Mike Shanahan, at that time, a young and spirited coach to lead the Raiders.

Little did we know how this action would affect the silver and black.

To Be Continued...