Super Bowl XVIII was a study in contrasts.
Washington was looking for back-to-back titles, its wide receivers were called “The Fun Bunch” and “Smurfs,” its offensive line “The Hogs” and — with suit-jacket-wearing Jack Kent Cooke running things — was one of the NFL’s most stable franchises. They even had their own band — founded in 1937 — which proudly struck up the team’s theme song each time it scored, which was often since Washington had averaged nearly 34 points a game while going 14-2.
And the Raiders? They were still getting used to their new digs in Los Angeles — owner Al Davis having broken the hearts of tens of thousands of Silver and Black Bay Area fans when he left Oakland after the 1981 season.