It’s easy to forget now that the Raiders used to be one of the premier franchises in the NFL. In the ’70s and ’80s, there’s an argument there was no better team.
However, the franchise may have peaked in 1976. That was when the Raiders won their first Super Bowl and had a roster stacked with Hall of Famers like Ken Stabler, Gene Upshaw and Art Shell.
The ’76 team is often considered among the greatest ever. CBS Sports ranked it as the sixth greatest team of all time and other votes have had them in the top-10. ESPN apparently doesn’t feel the same way. Aaron Schatz of ESPN recently ranked every team to win the Super Bowl and had the ’76 Raiders all the way down at No. 35.
“Here’s another team that wasn’t quite as good as its 13-1 regular-season record,” Schatz wrote. “Point differential suggests a 10-4 record, as the Raiders were 6-0 in one-score games and their only loss was 48-17 to the Patriots. The Raiders finished fourth in points scored and only 12th in points allowed.
“However, they went on a strong run in the playoffs. They got revenge on the Patriots with a 24-21 win in the divisional round, known to Patriots fans as the “Sugar Bear Hamilton” game because of a controversial roughing-the-passer penalty. In the AFC championship, the Raiders easily beat the best regular-season team in the Simple Rating System, the Steelers, by a 24-7 score. Finally, they got the Super Bowl XI victory, 32-14 over the Vikings.”
I’m just not buying that there are 34 better teams in NFL history. Schatz even has the 2021 Rams ahead of the ’76 Raiders. This is what happens when you make a list strictly based on numbers. That ’76 Raiders team is one of the most iconic in NFL history and many of the best players ever were on that roster. Plus, they were led by legendary head coach John Madden. The team deserves way more respect.