For the first time in 2011, both 49er and Raider fans got to remember the bad old days of 2010, and this is a good thing. In relative good times, it is good to remember the bad.
The Raiders went to Green Bay with their now typical half an offense, and performed as expected, being crushed with relatively little mercy by the Packers. The only maddening thing, other than the creeping doubt that Carson Palmer is actually just an expensive interception machine that cost more draft choices than the Raiders could afford, is that CBS Phil Simms said that Darren McFadden is probably done for the season with a Lisfranc injury to his foot.
Hue Jackson, the New Al, objected that it wasnt so, but he is prone to the odd whopper now and then in search of the mythical competitive edge that never seems to matter, so Simms report might very well be true. So between that and the Continuing Adventures of Tim Tebow, The Boy From Krypton, times are a little gray and dank around Raider Intergalactic Headquarters.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
The 49ers for their part finally lost a game to a clearly inferior opponent by doing the things that people kept fearing they were still capable of doing. You know, failing to convert third downs, not scoring inside the red zone, not being able to cover the deep ball over the middle . . . I mean, its not Tebow-quality mischief, but it has been a persistent issue that people were willing to gloss over during the good times.
And now, rather than being a mortal lock to get a first-round bye, they are now only a tiebreaker ahead of New Orleans for the second bye in the playoffs with Pittsburgh coming to town, and the Steelers are as we know the Baltimore Ravens with more offense. Meaning that they can score and hit you in the throat just to see that look on your face.
In short, this is the first time all season in which fans on both sides of the Bay are having the sinking feeling they had come to know through most of the past decade. The hill too big, the problems too hard to solve, despair, despair, bartender-another-boilermaker-but-its-only-10:30-in-the-morning-I dont-care-just-do-your-job-and-pour.
This is not a claim that the wheels are coming off either team -- although with Tebow and his brain-bending, mind-sapping Z-rays shooting from his skull you cant like the Raiders chances as much any longer.
News
It is, however, a reminder to any and all that it was never meant to be this easy. Neither the Raiders nor 49ers had reason to think in August this would be all good fun and free drinks, and when it started to feel like that, folks dropped their guards and started thinking in the grandest possible terms.
Which is fine, as far as it goes. Youve suffered plenty, suffering of course being a relative term, and any good times after the eight years of miserable slogging seem like Christmas morning. Youre not entitled to that feeling any more than anyone else, but its a refreshing change.
So maybe you needed Sunday as a quick refresher on the bad old days to make you appreciate the better new ones. Yes, the 49ers are thoroughly rancid when they absolutely positively need either a first down or a short-yardage touchdown, and yes, the Raiders are banged up and flawed in multiple ways.
But it could be worse. This could be last year. And given the weird way the NFL works, this could be next year too. Enjoy what you already banked, but remember that fun is rarely free or easy. Except of course for Tim Tebow.
Ray Ratto is a columnist for CSNBayArea.com.