Oakland Raiders 0-2 start doesn’t bode well for Coaches

September 14, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders head coach Dennis Allen reacts against the Houston Texans during the second quarter at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

As a man of nearly 42 years now, I can honestly say that this game was pretty embarrassing.  I have always said that I have been an Oakland Raiders fan since I was born, though my first game recollection was in 1976.  Through the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and even into the early 2000’s the Oakland/Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders had success with many outcomes ending in the Playoffs and 3 Super Bowl Victories.  Throughout the past 12 years, I have depended upon the Raiders past successes to carry me through this trying time.

In my many years as a Raiders fan, I have seen very good coaches come and go, and I have seen not so good coaches shove this team into a dungeon of despair.  Ownership made poor decisions on coaches, players, and a great many other things, but through it all I remain a faithful fan.  It’s definitely very hard to swallow.  Often, I think of how a fan of the New Orleans Saints or Seattle Seahawks or Tampa Bay Buccaneers must have felt for all those years without a Super Bowl, yet now they have one.

Then I think about the Green Bay Packers who went on one of the longest droughts between Super Bowl wins (29 years between 1967 and 1996), or the Chicago Bears who won their first Super Bowl in 1985 and had to wait 21 years before they got back to the big game (lost to the Indianapolis Colts in 2006).  Then there’s America’s Team, the Dallas Cowboys, who haven’t been to a Super Bowl since 1995.  The Pittsburgh Steelers went on a 16 year drought between 1979 and 1995 (lost to the Dallas Cowboys), and then another 10 year drought before their next Super Bowl victory in 2005.

Basically, this all adds up to the fact that it’s very difficult to put a group of players, coaches, and staff members together to form a winning organization.  That’s why the best teams each year are represented in one of the biggest games of the year.  Quite frankly, in today’s day and age it doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past as much as what you do in the present.  Winning football games is the only thing that will stop all the negativity.