The Kansas City Chiefs will make the postseason for the tenth consecutive year after they defeated the Las Vegas Raiders, 19-17, on Black Friday. Kansas City improved its regular season record to 11-1 and won its 14th consecutive one-possession game, setting an all-time NFL record. The Chiefs are also the first club since the 2009 Indianapolis Colts to clinch a playoff berth with five regular season games left on the schedule.
Kansas City didn’t play a great game on either side of the ball and like most of their games this year, they found a way to scathe past the Raiders by taking advantage of the biggest blunder Las Vegas has suffered all season.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes finished 26/46 for 306 yards and a touchdown, while Raiders signal-caller Aiden O’Connell was 23/35 for 340 yards and two touchdowns. On the ground, Kansas City struggled to get the run game going as Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt combined for 14 carries for 59 yards. Meanwhile, Travis Kelce found his groove being on the receiving end of seven catches for 68 yards.
To their credit, Vegas did a fine job of moving the ball on the ground and through the air. Rushers Sincere McCormick and Ameer Abdullah combined for 22 rushing attempts for 103 yards, which helped keep the chain moving as the Raiders o-line kept winning the battle in the trenches against Kansas City’s defensive front. In the passing game, rookie tight end Brock Bowers was a one-man show finishing with ten receptions for 140 yards and a score.
Kansas City got the ball first to begin the first half and started with a 15-play drive that ended inside the Raiders’ 10-yard line. This forced backup kicker Matthew Wright – who signed with KC earlier this week – to send in a 25-yard field goal to put the Chiefs on the board early.
The Raiders tied the game up to start the second quarter as Daniel Carlson nailed a 27-yard field goal. He could’ve given the Raiders the lead with a 58-yard attempt on the next drive, but it fell short. Kansas City responded with a 26-yard connection from Mahomes to tight end Noah Gray that set up a 1st down in Raider territory at the 27-yard line. On the next play, defensive end Zach Carter sacked Mahomes at the line of scrimmage. The Raiders defense sacked Mahomes five times in this game.
After the next pass was incomplete, the Chiefs converted on 3rd and 10 as Mahomes found Travis Kelce for a 15-yard gain. Three plays later, Mahomes lobs a pass to wide receiver Justin Watson in the end zone for a six-yard touchdown. Kansas City would go into halftime with a 10-3 lead.
Las Vegas got the ball to begin the second half. After eight plays on offense, the Raiders failed to convert on a 3rd and 6 at the Chiefs’ 35-yard line, as Abdullah fell short of the sticks for the first and forced a 4th and 1 situation. Rather than attempt the field goal, Las Vegas opted to go for it but the handoff to Abdullah was met by a sea of Chiefs defenders that stopped the play for no gain as Kansas City forced a turnover on downs.
After moving the ball on offense for eight plays, Kansas City was forced to settle for a field goal. This time Wright lined up to knock through a 42-yard attempt to give the Chiefs a 13-3 lead. On their next drive, the Raiders tried to answer with a long kick of their own, but Carlson missed another kick, this time from 55 yards out.
After Kansas City cashed in its third field goal attempt, the Raiders finally stopped the bleeding as O’Connell heaved a deep pass to Bowers for a 33-yard touchdown to end the third quarter. On their next drive, the Raiders opened the fourth with another scoring drive as wide receiver Tre Tucker was the receiving end of a 55-yard bomb from O’Connell to give Las Vegas a slim lead of 17-16.
Down by one, Mahomes and the Chiefs offense strung together a 15-play drive that faltered in the red zone and set Wright to retake the lead with a 32-yard field goal.
Down 19-17, the Raiders had a chance to set up a game-winning field goal from the Chiefs 32-yard line with 15 seconds left in the fourth. Instead, the Raiders ran another play to get their kicker closer since he missed his last three kicks. After O’Connell spiked the ball to stop the clock, the Raider offense rushed to the line of scrimmage to run another play. Before everyone got set, however, center Jackson Powers-Johnson snapped the ball early, leading to a turnover as Kansas City pounced on the muffed snap.
The turnover is arguably the biggest blunder of the Raiders’ season so far and allowed the Chiefs to escape with a 19-17 victory, to clinch a playoff berth for the tenth straight season.
