Finishing second behind the team from Düsseldorf, the club then had to face southern power house Ansbach Grizzlies in the semi-finals and was knocked out on each occasion in 1981, 1983 and 1984.

[3] In 1985, the Crocodiles were less successful, finishing only third and being knocked out in the quarter-finals, the year after the club didn't qualify for the play-offs at all, something it experienced only three times in its 23 seasons at the elite level.

[3] In 1989, the Crocodiles exited the play-offs in the round of 16, while the Red Barons made another, this time losing, Bowl appearance.

With this, however, the tables would turn, with the local rival disappearing from the league in 1991 and the Crocodiles reaching the play-off semi finals, as a minimum, in every one of the next eleven seasons.

[3] In 1994, the Adler were once more the stronger side in the two teams semi final encounter, the following two years after it was the Düsseldorf Panther.

The club re-entered senior football in 2009, joining the lowest regional league, the tier-six Landesliga North Rhine-Westphalia South.

[3] In 2012, the club experienced some further success, its youth team making a losing appearance in the Junior Bowl while the senior side won the Oberliga and earned promotion to the Regionalliga.

After a losing the 2012 and 2013 German Junior Bowl finals the Crocodiles won the 2014 edition against old rival Düsseldorf Panthers and defended their title in 2015.