The last time the Raiders won the AFC West, it was at the end of the 2002 season, when Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” was the No. 1 song and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was the top movie at the box office. It’s been a long time.
But new Raiders coach Jack Del Rio doesn’t see why the Raiders can’t win the AFC West this year.
“Goal No. 1 is to win our division, and I don’t see why not,” Del Rio said in a video on the team’s website.
Raiders offensive line coach Mike Tice added, “We’re going to be a championship football team.”
In the time since their last playoff appearance, the Raiders have gone from Bill Callahan to Norv Turner to Art Shell to Lane Kiffin to Tom Cable to Hue Jackson to Dennis Allen to Tony Sparano as head coach. All those coaches arrived with optimism that they’d be the ones to win in Oakland. Maybe Del Rio will finally be the coach who can actually turn things around.