It's time to apologize for doubting the Raiders this year

On this past Sunday, after they pulled off a fourth-quarter comeback in front of a pro-Raiders crowd at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, the Oakland Raiders improved to 11-3 and officially clinched a spot in the playoffs. They're currently one game ahead of the 10-4 Kansas City Chiefs, and although the Chiefs currently hold the tiebreaker and the Raiders really don't have much room for error in these final two weeks of the season, it's still incredibly impressive that this team has finally broken through and returned to the postseason after a 13-year drought.

The Raiders' success this season is proof that building behind a strong core of young talent and giving it an experienced coach to guide the youngsters on their way is a solid strategy to get far in this league. The offense is dynamic. Led by one of the league's top young quarterbacks in Derek Carr, Oakland's offense is anchored by a very talented offensive line that's given Carr plenty of time to spread the ball around and given the Raiders an attack that's on par with some of the best in the NFL.

On the other side of the ball, Khalil Mack has been the linchpin on a defense that may not be on the same level as the offense but is still able to generate a pass rush that can get the job done when the Raiders need it most. On special teams, they've still got the steady and reliable leg of Sebastian Janikowski splitting the uprights for them on a regular basis, and Marquette King has managed to turn an act as mundane as punting into a down that's entertaining and something that fans actually look forward to.

The key word there is "entertaining," and that's one thing that the Raiders have brought to the table this season. They've definitely been one of the more fun teams to watch in the league this season, and the entire team seems to play with an attitude and personality that's reminiscent of those old-school Raider teams that ran roughshod over opponents in those slow-motion NFL Films from the league's glory days. This team would fit right in with those other squads, which is great for the league from a neutral standpoint and also nice for the team's massive fan base that has, by and large, stuck by its team through extremely thin times. As wild and crazy as they are, you can't argue against the fact that these fans are ravenously hungry for success, and any potential home playoff game for the Raiders is probably going to have one of the most intense crowd atmospheres that we've witnessed for a long time.

Simply put, the Raiders have been a lovely success story to follow this season. Personally, I'm glad that they've proven a lot of pundits wrong with their run to a potential AFC West title, and this is coming from one of those "pundits" who figured that they'd fall flat on their face this offseason. Before Week 1 of this season, Yardbarker got the staffers together to give their opinions on the Raiders, and here's what I had to say when it came to the Silver and Black:

The Raiders are a sexy pick to win the AFC West this year. I'm sorry, but I've gotten way too used to the Raiders being a hot mess of a franchise, and I'm not quite ready to jump on their bandwagon after a 7-9 season. Yeah, they improved during the offseason and this division could be up for grabs, but there are certain franchises in this league where you're just waiting for the other shoe to drop. The Raiders have become one of those franchises in recent years, so I'm just waiting for the anvil to come crashing down on them just as they get their eyes set on the roadrunner that is the playoffs.

Now it's time to admit that I was dead wrong about this team. I was totally expecting this to be another one of those Raiders teams that gave you hope, only to have it come crashing down once the actual games started playing. Instead of a disappointment, we've got a team that's lived up to expectations and possibly exceeded them as well. The other shoe has yet to drop, and even if it does, it will have dropped in the playoffs. If that's the case, then this was still a successful season for the Raiders, and they proved a lot of people (including myself) wrong when it came to their chances this year.

There always seems to be a surprise story or two in any NFL season, and this year's surprise package came in the form of the Raiders. You could've argued that they had a decent chance of being moderately successful — I'm talking nine wins, maybe 10 if they really had a special season. As of right now, they've got a shot at potentially ending up with a first-round bye, and I dare anybody outside of the most hardcore of Raiders fans to say that he or she saw this coming as we entered Week 1. A whole lot of people who follow football were wrong about this Raiders team, and I'm happy to admit that I was one of them.