EPILOGUE

YOU EITHER LOVED THEM or hated them, but those Oakland Raiders of the 1970s under the guidance of Coach John Madden were an entertaining cast of characters in the guise of one of the greatest NFL teams of their era.

Throughout the decade of the 1970s, the Raiders won 71.5 percent of their games. They lost 38 games, one fewer than either the Steelers or Cowboys. Both Oakland and Pittsburgh played in six conference championship games in the ’70s. They also produced ten players, one owner, and a head coach that would be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

It has been long argued that ’70s quarterback Kenny Stabler and wide receiver Cliff Branch should also be enshrined in the Hall, as well as Coach Tom Flores, quarterback Jim Plunkett, and defensive back Lester Hayes. It’s a compelling argument that needs to be reviewed by the HOF voting committee.

A total of twenty retired quarterbacks were named to the NFL’s All Decade teams ranging from the 1930s through the 1990s. The only two quarterbacks not enshrined in Canton from those teams are Kenny Stabler and the Packers’ Cecil Isbell, who played for Green Bay in the 1930s and 1940s.

But even with all of those Hall of Fame players, they only had one Super Bowl victory that decade. The Raiders enshrined are one more than that of the Steelers, who won four Super Bowls in the 1970s. It is also three more than the Cowboys, who appeared in a record five Super Bowls that decade, winning two.

With all that talent it’s felt that they should have played in more Super Bowls than the Cowboys and won more than the Steelers . . . but that was not to be.

So the question remains: Were the Oakland Raiders of the 1970s a great team? Were they as great on the field—individually or collectively—as their image portrays?

That’s for you, dear reader, to be the judge of.