Forget about SD, how bout 'RAIDERS vs Bears', 1963??

[74_75_78_79_]

Yes they got swept by 7-6-1 Pats, who Chargers would clobber in Title Game, but that was early. After that 2-4 start, the Raiders win their final eight games, two of those wins vs SD (the latter of both a convincer). Smack in the middle of that 8-0 finish was an unintended two-week bye, first of both weeks was already scheduled, the second of both due to all games being post-poned due to Kennedy assassination. Raiders didn't let it disrupt momentum. The obvious difference between the '63 Chargers/Raiders and '99 Jags/Titans is that SD lucked-out not having to meet Oakland in the post-season.

Al Davis vs Halas! Who wins?

[sheajets]

Curious how the Bears managed to lose to the 2-12 Niners that year.

The Bears D was legit in 1963, I don't think Flores and Art Powell would be enough. The Raiders may have been on an 8 game run but their defense was playing frighteningly bad by the end of 63

Raiders just seemed like a fast and loose bunch who would've lost soundly to the Bears.

[BD Sullivan]

Curious how the Bears managed to lose to the 2-12 Niners that year.

The Bears D was legit in 1963, I don't think Flores and Art Powell would be enough. The Raiders may have been on an 8 game run but their defense was playing frighteningly bad by the end of 63

Raiders just seemed like a fast and loose bunch who would've lost soundly to the Bears.

They won their last game over the Oilers, 52-49.

[rhickok1109]

Curious how the Bears managed to lose to the 2-12 Niners that year.

The Bears D was legit in 1963, I don't think Flores and Art Powell would be enough. The Raiders may have been on an 8 game run but their defense was playing frighteningly bad by the end of 63

Raiders just seemed like a fast and loose bunch who would've lost soundly to the Bears.

They won their last game over the Oilers, 52-49.

The only real question is how many interceptions would Flores have thrown against the Bears? At least 5, probably more.

[SixtiesFan]

Curious how the Bears managed to lose to the 2-12 Niners that year.

The Bears D was legit in 1963, I don't think Flores and Art Powell would be enough. The Raiders may have been on an 8 game run but their defense was playing frighteningly bad by the end of 63

Raiders just seemed like a fast and loose bunch who would've lost soundly to the Bears.

They won their last game over the Oilers, 52-49.

I recall watching the 52-49 game on TV. I don't think the 1963 Raiders would have beaten the 1963 Bears in a championship game situation.

[Todd Pence]

The 1963 Raiders might have been victimized by the most unjust postseason snub in history. They won two and a half games more than the Bills and Patriots, who tied for the Eastern Division lead.

Other teams have encumbered by a tough division missed the postseason while finishing with much better records than others who have made it by winning a weak division. But consider this: In the AFL's first five years, although the teams were sequestered into Eastern and Western division, all of them played a total round-robin home-and-away schedule against each of the other teams in the league as opposed to a schedule weighted towards their divisional opponents. So the Patriots got to the title game (after disposing of the Bills in a tiebreaker playoff) by being named a division champion, even though the schedule rendered divisional alignments totally arbitrary.