Chiefs fall short against Raiders on Christmas
Tyler Brown
With a chance to seal the AFC West on the line, the Las Vegas Raiders (7-8) marched into GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium and stole the holiday spirit away from the Kansas City Chiefs (9-6).
The Chiefs still have to win just one more game or have the Raiders or Denver Broncos lose one more game in the final two weeks to capture their eighth straight divisional title. Even with a strong possibility of that, the general feeling around the team is not great after their 20-14 loss to the Raiders on Christmas Day.
The same issues that have plagued Kansas City all season once again popped up. Through 16 weeks, especially in their six losses, it has been either drops, turnovers, penalties or red zone woes that have been the driving force behind the struggles.
Today it was the turnovers that were the nails in the coffin. Not only did the Chiefs turn it over twice, but both were returned for a touchdown.
“Listen, they played a better game than what we did today, in particular our offense, we struggled,” head coach Andy Reid said. “That’s my responsibility to make sure I’m putting the guys in the right position to make plays and that didn’t happen the way that I wanted it to.”
Much of the blame for the mistakes and lack of attention to detail this year has been placed at the feet of the pass catchers, much more so than star quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The same cannot be said today as Mahomes fumbled a handoff from running back Isiah Pacheco on a trick play on the first turnover returned for a touchdown.
On the second one, he threw a late pass to the boundary without much zip to wide receiver Justin Watson that was easily picked off. Mahomes was most frustrated by the fact that they spoiled a dominant performance by his defense.
“I thought the defense played a good game, just two mistakes that gave them two touchdowns there – when you’re backed up in their red zone so you just can’t do that,” Mahomes said. “Especially when defense is playing like they’re playing but I just have to be better in that sense and not make those mistakes and try to find a way to play the game and the best way to win it.”
To make matters worse, the offense wasted an absolute gem from the defense that had the Raiders bottled up all game long. Raiders quarterback Aidan O’Connell did not even complete a single pass after the first quarter. In total, he went nine for 21 for 62 yards.
Kansas City did bring it within six points with just under three minutes to go, with two timeouts remaining. With Las Vegas running back Josh Jacobs out with an injury, Zamir White stepped up big time in his absence, rushing for 145 yards on 22 carries. When White and the Raiders got the ball back after the Chiefs’ touchdown, he would not be denied as they ended the game kneeling it out three times. White rushed for 64 yards on three carries in that game-sealing drive.
In reality, the Chiefs' defense only allowed six points with the defensive backs standing sticky in coverage all day. Defensive linemen Chris Jones and Charles Omenihu each tallied a sack as well. Jones was credited with three total quarterback hits. The Kansas City offense controlled the ball for nearly 10 more minutes and they outgained the Raiders offense by over 100 yards.
“I thought the defense did a nice job,” Reid said. “Really giving up what, six points and then the quick turn arounds on things and field position – all those things they had to bear down on. I thought they did a good job with it.”
Those statistics speak more to the play of the defense, rather than the offense as Mahomes and company finished with just 308 yards on the day. Along with the two turnovers, they also failed to turn two red zone opportunities into any points at all. The first was a Harrison Butker missed field goal and the second was a turnover on downs at the seven-yard line. Had Butker converted, they likely would have tried to kick a field goal on the second opportunity to try and make it a 20-13 game.
That means that the Chiefs' final touchdown would have tied the game at 20. There are a lot of ifs, ans or buts there but the point is they made a multitude of costly mistakes that resulted in their six-point loss to the Raiders, who had not beaten them since 2020.
The running game was not existent as well. Mahomes from the beginning of the game was running for his life in the backfield and it led to a lot of scrambles, which resulted in him leading the team in rushing with 53 yards. Mahomes was hit 10 times, including four sacks. It was tough to tell when the offensive line was giving up pressure versus when Mahomes bailed on the pocket too early. The offensive line struggles led running backs Isiah Pacheco and Clyde Edwards-Helaire each combining for 15 carries and 32 yards as well.
“Yeah listen, they did a good job with all their rush stuff,” Reid said. “It started early. They – even against the runs they had penetration so again, we’ve got stuff in our offense that I can give the guys for - that didn’t take place, so got to make sure that’s in there and going.”
With wide receivers Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore out with injuries, it was rookie Rashee Rice and veteran Richie James who led the Chiefs in receiving. Both of them finished with just over 50 yards and tight end Travis Kelce was the third-leading receiver with 44 yards. All-in-all Mahomes’ stat line was going 27 for 44 for 235 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
“They had a good game plan, they did a good job with flipping coverages, they did a good job when they were in man, playing pretty good coverage when they were in the zone, they were in the right spots,” Mahomes said. “Then the defensive line got home whenever they needed to, they had a good game plan, they played hard, they played a good football game, and credit to them. They played better than us today and they were the team that deserved to win.”
The Chiefs' first touchdown was a sweep to the left tossed out to Pacheco that he ran in from 12 yards out to originally give the Chiefs a 7-3 lead. Their second and final score of the game came very late as Mahomes found Watson after escaping a sack to make the game 20-14 with a glimmer of hope at a comeback.
The Chiefs, of course never got that chance as the defense ran out of gas against the highly motivated Las Vegas Raiders. The Chiefs are now eliminated from achieving the one-seed and would have to win their final two games against the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Chargers and have the Miami Dolphins lose to both the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills.
The two injuries coming out of the game were Pacheco (concussion) and right guard Trey Smith (left calf), who were both forced to exit the game. The Kansas City Chiefs' next chance to right the ship is when the Cincinnati Bengals (8-7) come into town next Sunday on New Year's Eve. Kickoff is 3:25 p.m. CDT.
