NFL’s 30 best teams that didn’t win the Super Bowl
This team gets forgotten because of a few factors. For starters, the Raiders had just moved to Los Angeles under protest of then-commissioner Pete Rozelle, making the main storyline around the team its location rather than the play. Secondly, 1982 was a strike-shortened season that only saw nine regular-season games played, turning off plenty of fans nationally.
Yet, Los Angeles was a terrific group that went 8-1 and earned home-field advantage in the AFC playoffs. The Raiders were expected to roll to their second Super Bowl title in three years behind rookie running back Marcus Allen and a talented cast around him including quarterback Jim Plunkett, receiver Cliff Branch and tight end Todd Christensen. Defensively this was a team with Ted Hendricks, Howie Long and Lyle Alzado in the front seven with Lester Hayes and Mike Haynes on the corners.
Somehow, Los Angeles came into the Divisional Round of the postseason flat, losing to the New York Jets at home, 17-14. The Raiders would avenge the defeat the following year, beating the heavily-favored Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII. Still, the Raiders left a potential dynasty on the table in 1982, falling to an underwhelming Jets team.
Next: 29. 1993 Houston Oilers