Raiders’ Trash Win, QB or No, Keeps ‘Em in Wild-Card Chase

It is better you don’t ask for an explanation of the wild-card situation as it pertains to pro football this year.

Simply accept that the Raiders remain in the running, the result of a trash win Sunday over Phoenix, 16-14.

Some will debate you on the philosophy of trash wins, arguing that any time you finish first, it can’t be trash.

And, not wishing to cause trouble during the holiday season, you yield the point, noting that you might have called the Raider performance trash until you saw the performance dispensed by Phoenix.

For the viewer, it was a match devoid of pleasure and, in the afterglow, there is a question to be posed of pro football, namely, how long should a coaching staff tolerate a malfunctioning quarterback in a game before enlisting a substitute?

Do you take a quarterback for life, as a swan takes a mate?

Or, giving him a reasonable chance, do you come for him with the hook when he no longer can hit the side of China’s Great Wall?

Steve Beuerlein, seeded No. 1 by the Raiders, is a model citizen, known from time to time to throw the ball straight.

But he hasn’t been doing this lately with the consistency with which one in his line of work should. And the upshot is, games that should be easy for the Raiders have turned into hair-raising adventures.

This thing with Phoenix, for instance, is a striking example. Phoenix is a team in disarray. Its coach who started the season no longer is on the job. The franchise is in shambles, spectacularly unpopular with those in residence who tendered a treasure for its hand.

Against such a turkey, the Raiders come into the game favored by 9 1/2, which is very large favoritism, and they are lucky to bail it out in the closing seconds.

Are you going to blame Steve Beuerlein? Not entirely, because quarterbacks sometimes are blamed for everything, including the earthquake in Armenia, but Steve spent most of the day out of rhythm and, consequently, the Raider offense did too.

Why, the viewer asked idly, wouldn’t the cerebral trust of the Raiders haul in the other quarterback it employs, Jay Schroeder, to see whether he could restore some semblance of stability to the attack?

When Schroeder went bad, the Raiders hauled in Beuerlein. That’s what the quarterback business is all about. You haul in guys until something works.

The Raiders, besides, pay Schroeder about $900,000 a year, and they gave Washington very prime talent and draft choices in order to capture him.

But how long, you ask, do you sit there and take a beating with a quarterback before trying a replacement?

Going sour in a game doesn’t call for deportation. But it does call for change, at least until such time as the thrower can regain his touch.

Beuerlein may have it all together next time. But, if he doesn’t it would behoove the Raiders to move with greater dispatch, because it is an ancient rule of the game that it is safer to move too soon than too late.

Against Phoenix, the Raiders didn’t move at all and came needlessly close to detaching themselves from a shot at the tournament.

Appointed by the NFL at one time to join a fact-finding committee to determine whether the Raiders were morally correct in trying to shift from Oakland to Los Angeles, Bill Bidwill, owner of Phoenix, cast a vote against the Raiders.

And, later to become contractually free, Bidwill left St. Louis for Phoenix. The Colts’ Bob Irsay voted against the Raiders; he would later leave Baltimore for Indianapolis.

And the Jets’ Leon Hess, wiping moisture from his eyes for faithful Oakland fans, would later leave the nation’s largest city without a team and flee to Meadowlands.

And the Bears’ Mike McCaskey, another staunch opponent of the Raider move? He now talks about skipping out of Chicago unless he can bag a better stadium.

It normally follows in football that owners appalled by franchise-shifting are those buried by long leases where they are.

Once legally in the clear, they find a fund of compelling reasons why a move is in the best interest of the team, if not the country.

Leaving St. Louis, said Bidwill, was a heart-rending decision, the sorrow happily eased by a large gate guarantee in Phoenix, a very friendly loan, a practice field and clubhouse, luxury boxes and club seats.

Now, you presume, he is enjoying Phoenix, but Phoenix isn’t necessarily enjoying him, indicating the hazards of hasty investment.

But don’t delude yourself about those who operate sports franchises. They make what is called business decisions, leaving places such as Phoenix to decide who got the business.