Raiders Vs. Chargers Has Been All Over the Map
The Las Vegas Raiders will attempt to keep alive their dwindling chances to make the 2023 National Football League playoffs when they play host to their AFC West rivals, the Los Angeles Chargers, this week on Thursday Night Football.
The Raiders and Chargers have been going head-to-head twice a year for 64 seasons since both were American Football League charter members in 1960.
These teams have been all over the map, as the Chargers started in Los Angeles, later moved to San Diego, and are now back in Los Angeles, although not entirely, as their new stadium is not within the city limits.
The Raiders were first listed as being from Oakland but played their home games during their first two seasons in San Francisco. The Silver and Black later moved to Los Angeles, then returned to Oakland, and are now in Vegas.
Of course, both teams have had numerous home stadiums.
Las Vegas Raiders vs. Los Angeles Chargers has been all over the map
(C) USA Today
The Chargers started out playing home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and later played at in San Diego at Balboa Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium. Back in the Los Angeles area, they played at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson and now are at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, Cal., where they beat the Raiders, 24-17, earlier this season.
The Raiders have played home games at Kezar Stadium and Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Frank Youell Field in Oakland, the Oakland Coliseum, the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, Memorial Stadium at the University of California in Berkeley, Calif., and now Allegiant Stadium.
The Chargers have beaten the Raiders four of the last six times the teams have met, after winning the first six games in the 1960s, but the Silver and Black lead the all-time series, 68-58-2, and won the most important game the rivals have ever played.
While the Raiders have been to the Super Bowl five times and won three of them, the Chargers got there only at the end of the 1994 season, when the San Francisco 49ers trounced them, 49-26, behind six touchdown passes by quarterback Steve Young in Super Bowl XXIX at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami.
The Chargers probably had the best team in their history in 1980 behind future Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts, running back Chuck Muncie, and future Hall of Fame tight end Kellen Winslow.
Fouts passed for 314 yards and two touchdown passes in the second half as the AFC West champion Chargers rallied to beat the Buffalo Bills, 20-14, in the first round of the NFL playoffs at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, and they were big favorites to beat the Raiders at home in the AFC Championship Game.
However, the Raiders scored first when tight end Raymond Chester caught a deflected pass from quarterback Jim Plunkett and went 65 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, and the Silver and Black never trailed.
“I was thrilled to be a part of all that in 1980, right to the very end,” Chester said years later. “I had played six or seven times in the playoffs -- bridesmaid, never a bride -- and here was my chance to not only make the playoffs as a Wild Card team but go all the way to the Super Bowl, and win.”
Plunkett scored on a six-yard run, threw a 21-yard scoring pass to running back Kenny King, and fullback Mark van Eeghen ran three yards another score as the Raiders built a 28-7 lead over the Chargers in the first half.
San Diego rallied, but Chris Bahr kicked field goals of 27 and 33 yards in the fourth quarter, and the Raiders held on for a 34-27 victory that longtime members of Raider Nation rank as the greatest in franchise history.
Two weeks later, the Raiders became the first wild card team to win the Super Bowl when they defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, 27-10, in Super Bowl XV when Plunkett was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.
Chargers fans were hoping for that with Fouts, but it never happened.
The Silver and Black will turn around quickly and host their AFC West rivals, the Los Angeles Chargers, on Thursday, December 14, at 8:15 p.m. EST/5:15 p.m. PST.
Please tell us your thoughts when you like our Facebook Page WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.
