# 1981 Oakland Raiders season

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 minus 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

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 | September 14 | 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 | December 7 | 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 | December 21 | 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

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Raiders | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| • Broncos | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 |

#### Week 2

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Raiders | 3 | 13 | 7 | 13 | 36 |
| Vikings | 0 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 10 |

#### Week 3

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Seahawks | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 10 |
| • Raiders | 7 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 20 |

### Standings

AFC West :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| San Diego Chargers$^{(3)}$ | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 6–2 | 8–4 | 478 | 390 | W2 |
| Denver Broncos | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 5–3 | 7–5 | 321 | 289 | L1 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 | 5–3 | 7–5 | 343 | 290 | W1 |
| Oakland Raiders | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 2–6 | 5–7 | 273 | 343 | L2 |
| Seattle Seahawks | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 2–6 | 6–8 | 322 | 388 | W1 |