Things didn't go off without any hitches but the Oakland Raiders did manage to get a huge win for the franchise. Not only does the victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers put the Raiders at 3-4 with a chance at .500 next week through their first 8 games of the season, but it also did something even bigger than that. It stopped one of the nastiest streaks that has plagued this franchise for a decade, they finally won after their Bye!

Winning in the NFL is always huge and it is always special. Winning today is even more special after finally breaking the 10 year streak of losing the week after a Bye. This is a huge streak to end because it is a direct link to the futility of the Raiders ever since their last Super Bowl appearance. It directly links the two teams because that was the last year ('02) that the Raiders had won after their Bye week.

Every step forward from the dark days is a grand step for the future of this franchise. It is one less stat that can randomly be brought up to prove how bad the Raiders have been and that does mean something. It means we get to move on and not think about the connection to the worst years of franchise history anymore, and it reminds us that even the worst streaks of futility can come to an end.

These years have been hard on all of us as die hard Raiders fans. Any little thing we get to celebrate we need to embrace, and the end of this streak is not little. It is finally over and it is another step forward in this team separating itself from the failures of yesteryear. Enjoy it, the win might not have been everything we had hoped for but in the end it doesn't matter if it was perfect. "Just win, baby!", right?