Raiders' 1990 NFL Playoff Win Turned Into a Brutal Loss

For the Los Angeles Raiders, a physically dominating NFL playoff win in 1990 ended up being a brutal loss for professional sports, and the franchise.

Another memorable post-season game for the Los Angeles Raiders came in the 1990 American Football Conference divisional playoff against the Cincinnati Bengals at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The Bengals took a 3-0 lead on a 27-yard field goal by Jim Breech early in the second quarter, but the Raiders were in control the rest of the way by pressuring quarterback Boomer Esiason on their way to winning, 20-10, before 92,045 fans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The headline in a Cincinnati newspaper across six columns the following day read: “Bengals bloodied in L.A.”

But in the long run, it turned out to be a loss for the Silver and Black.

The Raiders ran over the Bengals that day, rushing for 235 yards, Marcus Allen ran for 140 yards on 21 carries, and Bo Jackson added 77 yards on only six. This might have been the most talented running back duo in NFL history had they been able to play more than four seasons together

“It was a great game and we did our best, but we simply couldn’t stop their running game,” Bengals Coach Sam Wyche said. “Both of those guys (Allen and Jackson) are great.”

With Allen and Jackson running for big gains at will, quarterback Jay Schroeder completed 11-of-21 passes for 172 yards and touchdowns of 13 yards to wide receiver Mervyn Fernandez and 41 yards to tight end, Ethan Horton.

Schroeder’s touchdown pass to Horton gave the Raiders a 17-10 lead early in the fourth quarter, and Jeff Jaeger added a 25-yard field goal for the final points after kicking a 49-yarder in the third quarter.

It didn’t look like it at the time, but a long-term disaster hit the Raiders in the second half.

Jackson broke off a 34-yard run down the right sideline before being tackled by Cincinnati inside linebacker Kevin Walker. Jackson felt something give in his left hip, popped it back into place, and got up to run off the field.

However, Bo wound up back on the ground.

“It was a run that went to (our) left side and I was playing right,” Walker said later. “I was in backside pursuit when he broke into the secondary. By the time I got to him, he had built up a lot of ground speed. I got a hold of his legs pretty good and he was trying to break loose. It was nothing, really. Just an ordinary tackle.

“Once it happened, I got up and he got up right behind me. A few seconds later I turned around and he was on the ground again. I thought he was winded or something. I really didn’t think anything about it.”

Said Raiders coach Art Shell: “I didn’t think it was anything serious at the time and I thought he could have gotten off the field under his own power, but he got help from some of his teammates. … He had a limp in his giddyup.”

And his football career was over.

Jackson, who also was playing major league baseball for the Kansas City Royals and would join the Raiders after the baseball season, finished his four seasons with 515 carries for 2,782 yards (a 5.4-yard average) and 16 touchdowns, including runs of 92, 88 and 87 yards.

Had Jackson kept up that pace while playing in only 10 games per season over 12 years, he would have finished with 8,760 yards—or more than NFL greats such as Larry Csonka, Herschel Walker, and Jim Taylor.

Jackson was released by the Royals, but later signed with the Chicago White Sox in 1993, and in his first at-bat, he hit a home run on the first pitch. In eight seasons with the Royals, White Sox, and California Angels, he hit 141 home runs, was an American League All-Star in 1989, and was the American League’s Comeback Player of the Year in 1993.

However, Jackson was forced to retire because of a hip injury after playing his only season with the Angels in 1994.

As for the 1990 Raiders, several of them said after Jackson’s injury they were mentally beaten even before the Buffalo Bills routed them, 51-3, in the AFC Championship Game the next week at Rich Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y.

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