As America's population ages, there are plenty of people who should think carefully about whether they should still be driving their cars.

None of us will ever want to admit that our best days are deep in the rear-view mirror, even at a time when it's getting increasingly difficult to see the windshield. Still, there's a point at which the keys need to be taken away.

The same theory applies in the workplace. Sometimes, it's simply time to go.

But, sometimes, the guy who needs to go is the one who's running the show.

And that pretty much sums up the current state of the Oakland Raiders franchise.

I mean no disrespect to Al Davis. He is a great man. He has had as much of an impact as anyone on the game of professional football. His franchise had one of the most stellar stretches of excellence that the NFL has known, with three Super Bowl titles in eight years. He has been at the forefront of diversity, hiring an African-American coach years before the term "Rooney Rule" was coined and placing a woman in the position of team president.

If, however, Mr. Davis is actively managing the football operations, as we assume, the time has come for it to end.

While the organization has made several questionable moves over the past few seasons, some of the most compelling pieces of evidence of a franchise in disarray have come during recent free-agent signings. The first big problem was the decision to sign defensive tackle Tommy Kelly, who is recovering from a torn ACL, wasn't drafted in 2004, and had generated no buzz as he was preparing to hit the open market. Still, he received $18 million in guaranteed money from the Raiders.

Then came the inexplicable decision to sign former Broncos receiver Javon Walker to a deal that could be worth $55 million over six years, including $16 million in guaranteed money. Walker, whose 2007 season was shortened by lingering knee problems, will likely get a whopping $21 million over the first two years.

Amazingly, the Raiders promptly dispatched an in-house mouthpiece to explain to multiple reporters that the deal doesn't really pay Walker $16 million in guaranteed money, and that his agents came up with that number based on a $6 million signing bonus, a non-guaranteed $5 million base salary in 2008 that will almost certainly be paid, and a $5 million base salary in 2009 that is almost as likely to be paid.

The only problem? The information disseminated by Da Raidahs was, well, dead wrong. Walker actually received an $11 million signing bonus, and he'll get a $5 million roster bonus in early 2009. The roster bonus is fully guaranteed against injury.

It's rare for a team to throw cold water on contract numbers being trumpeted by the agent for a newly-signed player. It's unprecedented for a team to set the record straight by giving out blatantly incorrect information. The Raiders admitted they were wrong, but the mere fact that they got it so wrong reveals a shocking level of incompetence -- and that has to point to the man in charge.

And it makes even more curious the stream of denials flowing from the organization regarding the status of coach Lane Kiffin. The team claims that no rift arose in the wake of the 2007 season regarding the status of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, that Davis didn't ask Kiffin to quit, and that Kiffin wasn't frozen out of the decision to hire receivers coach (and possible future head coach) James Lofton. But how can anyone put any stock in anything that the team says in light of the Walker fiasco?

Meanwhile, Raider Nation finds itself unwittingly trapped in a Black Hole of denial. Check the comments that will be posted at the bottom of this item. Plenty will again chastise the "media" for having an agenda against the Silver and Black.

The truth is that, if the media wanted to see the Raiders fail, the media wouldn't say a thing. Instead, the media would sit back and watch it all continue to crumble.

And crumble it will continue to do for as long as the current ownership is in place. As retired Packers quarterback Brett Favre said on Thursday, "All good things must come to an end." For Al Davis, it's time for his very, very good run to come to an end. Without doubt, without question, without debate.

The Raiders' Super Bowl appearance in 2003 was, in hindsight, an aberration of the salary-cap era, and now by all appearances the team recognizes that it has to overpay players to get them to put up with the drama. This strategy will only attract players who love money more than they love football, and even the few who love football will have their passion snuffed out as the losses continue to outnumber the wins.

Mike Florio writes and edits ProFootballTalk.com and is a regular contributor to Sporting News.