The Recent History of the Chiefs-Raiders Rivalry

Andy Reid's Kansas City Chiefs have dominated their division rivals, including the Las Vegas (or Oakland) Raiders since his first season in Kansas City.

The great NFL rivalry of the Kansas City Chiefs versus the Oakland/Los Angeles/Oakland Again/Las Vegas Raiders has seen its ups and downs for each team. There is no denying that the arrival of Andy Reid in Kansas City in 2013 brought with it a momentum-turn for the Chiefs in this rivalry, as they have been winners of 12 of the last 15 contests. Not only have the Chiefs dominated the win/loss column, but they have done it in the box scores as well.

Perhaps the most dominant year in this run was the first under Andy Reid. In 2013, the Chiefs sacked Raiders backup QB Terrell Pryor nine times on the way to a 24-7 victory. The Raiders faced a 3rd and 48 in that game.

Two months later, in the rematch in Oakland, Alex Smith posted a perfect 158.3 passer rating as Jamaal Charles had one of the greatest games in Chiefs history. Eight catches for 195 yards and four receiving touchdowns, plus another 20 yards rushing and another score. Combine that with seven takeaways by the defense, and you get a final score of 56-31, Chiefs.

The Chiefs faced a short week in 2014 when they had to travel to Oakland for Thursday Night Football, and the lethargy of a short week and west coast trip showed as they dropped the game 24-20 to the 0-10 Raiders in the rain. Oakland running back Latavius Murray, who had 10 career carries before this game, ripped off a 90-yard touchdown run to give the Raiders a 14-0 lead in the first half. The Chiefs would get their revenge three weeks later back in Kansas City with a 31-13 victory, but the Thursday Night schedule would come into play three years later.

In 2015 and 2016, the Chiefs racked up four dominant victories, with an average score of 26-15 Chiefs. The Kansas City defense was responsible for 13 sacks and six turnovers in those games, while Jamaal Charles and the rest of the Chiefs rushing attack turned in 526 yards rushing and seven touchdowns over the four games.

2017 saw the Thursday Night Football curse once more, as the Chiefs traveled to Oakland on another short week and held a 30-21 lead after three quarters of play. But after the Raiders punted the ball to the Chiefs with 4:15 left in the game and a score of 30-24, the Chiefs ran the ball twice and then got sacked on third down, giving the ball back to Oakland with 2:25 left on the clock. The Raiders drove the length of the field and, with 23 seconds left from the KC 29, Carr hit tight end Jared Cook to get down to the one-yard line with seven seconds to go. An offensive pass interference call against the Raiders on the next pass attempt brought the ball back to the 10-yard line with three seconds to go. Carr's next two pass attempts each fell incomplete, but each were followed by defensive holding calls against the Chiefs. The second and final untimed down by the Raiders proved to be the game-winner, and the Chiefs dropped their second Thursday Night Football contest in Oakland under Andy Reid.

After Alex Smith's final start against the Raiders ended in a low-stress 26-15 Chiefs victory, in stepped Patrick Mahomes to lead Kansas City. His first game against the Raiders in 2018 was an offensive onslaught, a 40-33 victory that wasn't as close as the final score, in which Mahomes threw four touchdown passes and the Chiefs piled up another 174 yards on the ground and turned the Raiders over three times. In the 2018 regular-season finale with Mahomes on the cusp of 5,000 yards passing and 50 touchdowns, the Chiefs steamrolled Oakland 35-3 and Mahomes finished his inaugural MVP season with the coveted 5,000 and 50. Derek Carr was terrible on this day, throwing two interceptions including this hilarious miscue when his receiver wasn't looking:

The 2019 season was more of the same, as Chiefs swept the Raiders by a combined score of 68-19, with Mahomes memorably throwing four touchdown passes in the second quarter in Oakland. In the final matchup as the Oakland Raiders, the Chiefs dominated once again in a 40-9 victory where the Chiefs led 31-0 at the end of three quarters. A nifty Mahomes rushing touchdown, a Juan Thornhill pick-six, and a Charvarius Ward returned extra point highlighted the scoring.

Earlier this season, the Raiders snuck up on the undefeated 2020 Chiefs and did something they hadn't been able to do with Carr, which was score more than 17 points at Arrowhead. The COVID-19-limited crowd wasn't able to rattle him as they did in years past, and the Raiders dropped 40 points on the Chiefs. That offensive output was clearly an anomaly, as is evident with some box scores from every game since 2013.

The Chiefs will have plenty of motivation to defeat the Raiders this week in Las Vegas. But the way they've played in this matchup lately, I'm not sure they'll need it.