Raiders-Chargers Rivalry Goes Way Back

The Las Vegas Raiders will try to get back on track early in this 2023 season when they travel to Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., to take on one of their oldest rivals, the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Oakland Raiders and Chargers, who started in Los Angeles but moved to San Diego in 1961 before going back to L.A. in 2017, were charter members of the American Football League in its inaugural season of 1960.

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The Raiders and Chargers have played twice each regular season for 63 years because they have always been in the same division -- first the AFL West and now the American Football Conference West -- and the Silver and Black lead the all-time series, 68-57-2.

However, it didn’t start that way.

The Chargers were one of the early powers in the AFL. At the same time, the Raiders were an afterthought, as they only became part of the new league because the National Football League snapped up the proposed Minnesota franchise, which became the Vikings.

San Diego had such stars as quarterback John Hadl, wide receiver Lance Alworth, running backs Paul Lowe and Keith Lincoln, and defensive tackle Ernie Ladd, and won the first six games against the Raiders by scores of 52-28, 41-17, 44-0, 41-10, 42-33, and 31-21 in three seasons as Oakland went 6-8, 2-12 and 1-13.

Then, however, Raiders owner Wayne Valley turned things around for the Raiders when he reached onto the Chargers’ coaching staff and hired assistant Al Davis, who had mentored under the great San Diego Coach Sid Gillman.

Davis came to Oakland and immediately turned the Raiders around, coaching them to a 10-4 record in 1963, including their first victories over the Chargers in two of the more memorable games in the series for Raider Nation.

Equipment Manager Dick Romanski and Davis had switched the Raiders’ colors from black and gold to Silver and Black that season and the Oakland fans went nuts when the team ran onto Frank Youell Field in their new uniforms for the first time.

In their first game with the Chargers in 1963, quarterback Cotton Davidson threw three touchdown passes, and Tom Flores, who later coached the Raiders to two Super Bowl victories, threw two more as the Raiders claimed a 34-33 victory at Balboa Stadium by intercepting five passes by Hadl.

“That was a big game for us because we knew if we could beat the Chargers, we could beat anyone,” Davis said.

The second meeting was an absolute classic.

The Chargers were looking for revenge when they came to Oakland later in the season and rolled to a 27-10 lead after three quarters as Rote passed for 284 yards and three touchdowns.

Frank Youell Field in Oakland, which opened in 1962, had a listed seating capacity of 22,000, but it was estimated that nearly 25,000 fans jammed in to watch the game that day. However, after three quarters, many fans began to leave after the Chargers built their big lead.

However, the Raiders were about to start the first of their big rallies that became a tradition.

Oakland safeties Tommy Morrow and Joe Krakoski recovered Chargers fumbles early in the fourth quarter, and San Diego also lost the ball with a bad snap on a punt.

Davidson turned those into a 40-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Art Powell, his nine-yard scoring run, and a field goal by Mike Mercer that tied the score, 27-27, with 7:54 left in the game.

Following a Chargers punt, Davidson hit Powell with a 41-yard scoring pass to give the Raiders their first lead of the game, 34-27, with 5:35 left. After an interception by linebacker Clancy Osborne, the Silver and Black tacked on a two-yard touchdown run by fullback Miller for the final points with 1:06 remaining to make the final score 41-27.

Frank Youell Field was about half-full early in the final quarter. But, fans listening to the game on the radio in the parking lot and their cars on the way home returned, and the stadium was nearly full again as Oakland celebrated at the finish.

Still, the Chargers won the AFL West that season with an 11-5 record and routed the Boston Patriots, 51-10, in the AFL Championship Game at Balboa Stadium, and some thought they were better than the NFL champion Chicago Bears, who beat the New York Giants, 14-10, in the title game at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

The Raiders later won 10 straight games and went 18-0-2 against the Chargers from 1968-77 to take control of the series, but the Chargers have won three of the last five, including a split last season, with the Raiders winning 27-20, in Las Vegas and losing, 32-19, at Sofi Stadium on the site Davis once considered building a stadium for the Silver and Black.

Many people in the stands will be cheering for the Raiders, who still have a strong following in Los Angeles, with some of them often making the trip to Las Vegas to watch the Silver and Black.

The Silver and Black return to the road this week in Inglewood, Calif., to play the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, Oct. 1, at 4:05 p.m. EDT/1:05 p.m. PDT.

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