The Las Vegas Raiders have not won a playoff game since 2002, when they last made it to the Super Bowl. They've only made the postseason twice since then, which are also the only two seasons they've had a winning record since that Super Bowl loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and former coach Jon Gruden.
Mark Davis is easy to make fun of and he has made mistakes, making bad hires and putting his faith in the wrong people. But the Raiders' lack of success is not due his lack of effort as an owner, and trying to get it right.
Davis has taken on Tom Brady as a minority owner. John Spytek is the new general manager, and Pete Carroll is the new head coach. Right or wrong Brady has a lot of influence on things, while Spytek and Carroll are the Raiders' third GM-head coach pairing in as many seasons.
At the NFL's league meetings this week, Davis acknowledged the bottom line when it comes to having to have another reset at the top of the Raiders' football operation.
"I just didn't get it right", Davis said, via Vic Tafur of The Athletic. "That's all there is to it."
Davis is or course optimistic about the Brady-Carroll-Spytek trio, and it does feel like the Raiders have credible people in place for the first time in a long time.
Raiders owner Mark Davis brings a little levity to offseason perspective
The Raiders may be a lot better this season and not have a lot more wins to show for it in an AFC West that had three playoff teams last year. Davis acknowledged how the rebuild is likely to take more than one offseason.
"You always want to compete, but you have to be honest,” Davis said. “Are we going to win the Super Bowl this year? I don’t know. It’s possible.”
While there's a place for serious evaluation and honest assessment about a team's outlook for a coming season, Davis made room for a funny quip about the optimism that reigns during the offseason.
"I say it every year, this is my favorite time -- we are undefeated," Davis said.