Thanks for the support Protest! I appreciate it!
And funny you should mention the Raiders, when I was picking a theme to my NFL timeline, I seriously considered doing one about the Raiders instead of the Browns.
The POD would have been October 19, 1997. A meaningless game in Oakland as the 2-5 Raiders host the undefeated Denver Broncos, who came into the game with a 6-0 records. The Raiders, leading 28-25, had a critical 3rd and 10 on the Raiders 12 yard line with 2:05 remaining in the game. Raiders Tim Brown made a diving catch from Jeff George to give the Raiders the first down. My POD would be that Tim Brown dropped the pass, and after the punt Elway leads the Broncos into the end zone.
Doesn't seem to change much from OTL at first. The Broncos finished the season 12-4 and won the Super Bowl in OTL. That doesn't change much (they finish the season 13-3 instead but still win the Super Bowl). The Raiders struggled badly and finished the year 4-12 in OTL. Now they are 3-13 with this loss to Denver, and like OTL they are still in last place.
But there is one critical difference. They now are tied with Indianapolis for the worst record in football, and they now move up from the 4th overall pick to the first due to that one play.
And in 1998 there was no question who the #1 player in the draft was: Peyton Manning.
In the end I decided against it since I really didn't know if Manning would do as well as he did in OTL with Oakland's offense. But it would have been an intersting idea to work with.