CHARGERS/Eagles Super Bowl XV (1/25/81)

[74_75_78_79_]

First off, though obviously not by unanimous measure (heck, this is the...1980 playoff field we're talking of), the Oakland Raiders really were the best team in the league this very season, end-of-day. The 12-3 finish should not have to be the only example to give. Holding onto the ball with more than 6 minutes to go to finish off resilient Air Coryell in that very rubber-band AFCCG match and then walloping Philly two weeks later, thus breathing their final breath of the Madden Era even though John was now two years gone. Yes, not by much, but the Raiders were #1 in 1980 in the end, close playoff wins or lopsided ones.

But let's just say that Oakland's "nightmare" at the time, end of that AFCCG at the Murph, DID come true - they letting them score again?? How does a San Diego/Philadelphia Yellow Ribbon Around the Superdome match-up go (Chargers with those little yellow tags bottom back of their helmets as well)? Yes, SD handed Philly their second defeat of '80 in Week #13 at home, dropping Vermeil's Birds to 11-2 as the Chargers upped themselves to 9-4. 22-21! But Philly rallying from a 19-0 halftime deficit! They scored two TDs late to make it that very final score (no two-point-conversions just yet).

This hypothetical has been discussed here many times before. A popular pick in 'playoff/SB match-ups you would have liked to see' threads, for sure!

Yes, Vermeil with that very infamous 'uptight'/strict curfew pre-game atmosphere the two weeks leading up. Does Air Coryell capitalize on this as the swagger-some Raiders did in what would be a more-than-nice QB showdown for all-the-marbles between Dan Fouts and a...Sid Gilliam-assisted Ron Jaworski? Yes, a Coryell/GIlliam chess match it would have been, more than you think!

[CSKreager]

Forget that AFC CG. Without Red Right 88, we could have still gotten this SB had it been Browns/Chargers

It would have guaranteed a 1st time SB champion and would have felt refreshingly different, new blood if you will

The 1980 AFC Playoffs had 4 potentially unique possibilities of long suffering teams (Buffalo! Cleveland! Snakebitten Houston!

Instead we got the least interesting outcome: another stale silver and black rerun after what felt like a decade plus of Oakland being shoved down our throats, making us pretend someone whose TD/INT ratio of 18-16 screamed “Cinderella story” because of the Raider mystique