1981 Oakland Raiders season explained

The 1981 season was the Oakland Raiders' 22nd, its 12th in the National Football League and third under head coach Tom Flores. The team failed to improve on its 1980 record of 11–5, finishing 7–9, becoming the fourth team in NFL history to enter a season as the defending Super Bowl champions and miss the playoffs. The 1981 Raiders set an NFL record by losing three consecutive shutout games. The passing game deteriorated badly, finishing 26th in the league with 28 interceptions. After the defense led the NFL in interceptions and takeaways in 1980, it was last in the league 1981 with a –16 turnover differential. The 1981 season was the team's last in Oakland until 1995, and the Raiders' losing record snapped a streak of 16 consecutive winning seasons. This was the only season from 1965 to 1986 in which the Raiders finished with a losing record.

Offseason

NFL Draft

See main article: article and 1981 NFL Draft.

1981 Oakland Raiders Draft

Round	Selection	Player	Position	College
1	21	Ted Watts	CB	Texas Tech
1	23	Curt Marsh	OT	Washington
2	48	Howie Long	DE	Villanova
4	111	Johnny Robinson	DT	Louisiana Tech
5	118	James Davis	CB	Southern
9	248	Curt Mohl	OT	UCLA
10	276	Frank Hawkins	HB	Nevada
11	304	Chester Willis	HB	Auburn
12	332	Phil Nelson	TE	Delaware

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 6	at Denver Broncos	L 7–9	0–1	Mile High Stadium	74,796
2		at Minnesota Vikings	W 36–10	1–1	Metropolitan Stadium	47,186
3	September 20	Seattle Seahawks	W 20–10	2–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	45,725
4	September 27	at Detroit Lions	L 0–16	2–2	Pontiac Silverdome	77,819
5	October 4	Denver Broncos	L 0–17	2–3	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	51,035
6	October 11	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 0–27	2–4	Arrowhead Stadium	76,543
7	October 18	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 18–16	3–4	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	42,288
8	October 25	Kansas City Chiefs	L 17–28	3–5	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	42,914
9	November 1	New England Patriots	W 27–17	4–5	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	44,246
10	November 8	at Houston Oilers	L 16–17	4–6	Houston Astrodome	45,519
11	November 15	at Miami Dolphins	W 33–17	5–6	Miami Orange Bowl	61,777
12	November 22	San Diego Chargers	L 21–55	5–7	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	50,199
13	November 29	at Seattle Seahawks	W 32–31	6–7	Kingdome	57,147
14		Pittsburgh Steelers	W 30–27	7–7	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	51,769
15	December 13	Chicago Bears	L 6–23	7–8	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	40,384
16		at San Diego Chargers	L 10–23	7–9	San Diego Stadium	52,279
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1

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Week 2

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Week 3

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Standings

Notes and References

1. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198109060den.htm Pro-Football-Reference.com
2. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198109140min.htm Pro-Football-Reference.com
3. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198109200rai.htm Pro-Football-Reference.com