After Seven Turnovers in 20-17 Loss, Raiders Face Tough Questions

Hang down your head, Al Davis, hang down your head and cry. The greatness that was supposed to be waiting for your Raiders is gone.

When the long winter is gone, how many of them will be, too?

“I would imagine they’ll make some changes around here” said linebacker Rod Martin, sadly. “The situation is, if you don’t win, you’ve got to do something about it.”

They didn’t win. With their fellow AFC playoff contenders dropping around them like clay pigeons and fate seeming to insist on a last opportunity, the Raiders swooned again. They turned the ball over seven times and lost, 20-17, to the Kansas City Chiefs who became the third underdog in three weeks to unseat them.

Even now the Raiders are still in the running for the second wild-card spot. Now, though, they’re down to the miracle stage.

Should they beat the Indianapolis Colts here next week . . . and should the Chiefs lose to the Steelers in Pittsburgh . . . and should the Bengals lose to the New York Jets in Cincinnati . . . and should the Seahawks lose to the Denver Broncos in Seattle, then my son, the Raiders will be a playoff team once more.

Otherwise, they’ll miss for the first time since moving here in 1982. Are they optimistic? Someone showed a piece of paper with this four-way parlay on it to Matt Millen.

Said Millen: “Ho, ho ho.”

There were four Jim Plunkett interceptions and two lost fumbles by Marcus Allen within the first three times he touched the ball. The early fumbles led to a 10-0 Chiefs lead. There was a fumble by Napoleon McCallum at the Chiefs’ 16 in the fourth quarter, so if turnovers explain it for you, there they are.

There were lots of Raider players wondering out loud if the old hunger was there, or if too many guys had gone Hollywood, if that explains it for you.

But maybe everyone was just being polite. Maybe this team just wasn’t good enough. Maybe the offensive line needs young blood. The 128 yards the Raiders rushed for Sunday was their first time over 100 in three weeks. Allen averaged 110 yards a game last season by himself.

Maybe the passing game needs more options. All Plunkett’s interceptions came on the famed Raider long-strike attempts.

Maybe the secondary needs help. With Lester Hayes out, the Chiefs went hard at his backup, Sam Seale, but Mike Haynes was beaten deep for one touchdown, too, a 26-yarder by Stephone Paige. In the old days--a month ago--when the secondary was sounder, the Raider defense was a unit that the team could rally around. When it started to leak, it was Rowboat City.

By Sunday, the Raiders had given up 37, 33 and 31 points in their last three games. But fate had been kind, placing control of their destiny back in their hands. When they took the field, the Bengals had already registered the loss the Raiders needed. Two Raiders victories would get them in.

Not only that, another Jet loss and the Raiders might actually have been hosting a wild-card game. And if they won that, they were odds-on to play their next game at Cleveland, against the Browns whom they had already beaten handily. And if they won that, they might be going back to Denver, where they’d lost narrowly. That would be three games on the natural turf they so prefer, against three teams they might be able to handle. And then guess where they’d be?

“Before the game, Tom (Flores) addressed the team,” Todd Christensen said. “He said, ‘This is it.’ You don’t have to be Fellini to realize it was significant.”

Whoa, you silver and black Pollyannas! Minutes after Leslie Uggams finished the National Anthem, Raiders started rolling pigskins across the grass.

The first time they touched the football--Fulton Walker’s return of a punt--the ball came out and was recovered by Kansas City but the officials ruled Walker had been down. On the very next play, Allen went off left tackle and fumbled the ball away at his 26. This time it counted.

Three plays went nowhere, so the Chiefs’ Nick Lowery kicked a 40-yard field goal.

The next possession lasted four plays until Allen fumbled the ball away again at his 36. Was he trying to do too much? Had he heard too many rumors about being traded for Vinny Testaverde?

“If it wasn’t for bad luck,” said Allen on his way out of the dressing room, “I wouldn’t have any luck at all this season.”

This time the Chiefs took it in, Bill Kenney hitting Paige running a fly behind Haynes. Lowery’s kick made it 10-0.

Then just to demonstrate how much help they needed, Kenney marched his offense 78 yards right through the Raider defense for another touchdown. Jeff Smith went the last two yards and it was 17-0. To be kind, the great Raider defense looked demoralized.

Then came the Raider moment. They sprang a reverse on the kickoff, with Walker heading right and then handing the ball to Vance Mueller circling left. Mueller sprinted another 46 yards to the Chiefs’ 38. The crowd was going crazy and four plays later, Plunkett and Rod Barksdale combined on a 34-yard touchdown pass play.

It was 17-7 and everyone knew what came next, right? Hadn’t the Raiders rubbed out a 17-0 deficit in Kansas City?

Sure enough, the next Raider possession marched right down to the Chiefs’ three . . . and died. On second and goal at the three, the Raiders sent Allen in motion and ran McCallum inside. He was squashed at the two. A year ago, it would have been Air Marcus and six points. Is it his ankle? Is it his line? Whatever, now they’re trying to finesse it.

On third down, the Raiders ran a sprint-out pass. Plunkett had to throw the ball away and they settled for a Chris Bahr field goal and 17-10.

Time for a Raider moment, more or less. In the closing seconds of the half, the Chiefs reached the Raider one on a pass-interference call against Stacey Toran. There, however, the Chiefs ran Kenney on a naked reverse and Martin tackled him for a loss. Then the Raiders turned the Chiefs back and forced them to settle for a Lowery chip-shot field goal and a 20-10 lead at the half. Who had the momentum was anyone’s guess.

How would the second half go? Late in the third period, the Raiders unleashed a drive, 83 yards to score, aided by a big roughing- the-passer call on the Chiefs’ Pete Koch which wiped out what would have been Chief safety Deron Cherry’s third interception. The replay suggested that Raider guard Chris Riehm had pushed Koch into Plunkett.

But that wasn’t what the officials saw. Allen went the last two yards behind Riehm’s block on linebacker Dino Hackett and it was 20-17. Fate was offering a last glimmer.

The next Chief possession went nowhere. The Raiders took the ball at their 31 and started crunching their way downfield, runs inside plus short passes. The wide receivers were Tim Moffett, who didn’t catch a pass all day, and the just-signed Mark Pattison, who hasn’t caught one in the NFL.

McCallum carried for gains of 4, 8, 7 and 4 yards. The last gave the Raiders a first down at the Kansas City 16. There he tried to break one outside, was hit by the strong safety, Lloyd Burrus, and fumbled the ball away.

“The kind of cut I made, I always swing the ball out too far,” McCallum said later. “The guy just knocked it out. It wasn’t a hard hit or anything like that. The guy just hit the ball.”

The Raiders got the ball once more, at their 16 with 1:58 left. Plunkett aimed a very long out pattern at Barksdale, who was making his way through a Kansas City zone. Cornerback Kevin Ross, looking like he’d figured out what was coming, stepped up and intercepted.

“Confidence is a big thing in this game,” said Vann McElroy, a Raider stalwart all season.

“You lose a game like Seattle and you start second-guessing yourself. ‘Do we just stink or what? Am I just a terrible player.’ You start doubting yourself and that’s when you get in trouble. Guys start trying to do too much.

“We just weren’t playing with a lot of confidence in the first half.”

Said Martin: “You mean early today? You could say it hasn’t looked like the Raiders for three weeks.

“We’ve still got a game next week. Nobody should be down for that game. Everybody had better be ready to play because Indianapolis--it’s going to be embarrassing if they beat us.”

To find out if fairy tales really do come true, or if still greater embarrassments await the Raiders, tune in next week. After that, you may have to find your entertainment elsewhere.