The Greatest In-Season NFL Turnaround For All 32 Teams

Oakland Raiders – 1980

After a glorious run in the 1970s, the Oakland Raiders looked like a team that was in decline. They hadn’t made the playoffs for two years and most of their old guard like Ken Stabler, Fred Biletnikoff, Dave Casper, and Willie Brown were gone. Going into 1980 they looked like a team with few bright prospects, starting over at QB with the underachieving Dan Pastorini.

They certainly played like it to start the season, going 2-3 in their first five games with blowout losses to the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs in the final two. To make matters worse, Pastorini broke his leg in the Chiefs game, forcing failed #1 pick turned longtime backup Jim Plunkett to enter the starting lineup. Nobody knew what was coming.

Oakland somehow rolled off six-straight wins to completely change the complexion of their season. Plunkett made big plays when he had to and the veteran roster around him did the rest. They finished 11-5, went into Cleveland and stunned the Browns 14-12, beat their rival Chargers in San Diego in the AFC championship, and brought it home by blowing out the favored Philadelphia Eagles 27-10 in the Super Bowl.