Chiefs Run Raiders Into a Dead End, 31-13

The 2022 NFL regular season mercifully came to an end with the Las Vegas Raiders being blown out at home versus their AFC West rival, the Kansas City Chiefs.

The only good thing you can say about Coach Josh McDaniels’ first season with the Las Vegas Raiders is that it’s over.

The Kansas City Chiefs continued their domination of the Raiders by scoring a touchdown on the game's first series, building a 21-point halftime lead, and coasting to a 31-13 victory in the final game of the regular season on Saturday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

The Raiders (6-11) finished the season the same way they started it, on a three-game losing streak, something they did three times in 17 games. The Silver and Black turned things around briefly by winning three in a row and four of five games to get to 5-7, before losing four of their last five.

The only other time the Raiders were blown out this season was 22-0 by the New Orleans Saints in Week 8.

The Chiefs (14-3), who already had clinched the AFC West title for the seventh consecutive season, wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the American Football Conference playoffs and a first-round bye, won for the fifth consecutive game and finished with ten victories in their last 11 games.

“It’s important to get the bye because almost it’s like winning a playoff game, and we get a week off to rest up,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said after leading the victory. “We’ll find out next week who we play in our first playoff game, but we’ll be ready for anybody.

“It thought our defense did a great job and prevented the Raiders from moving the ball consistently to keep us in control.”

Kansas City beat the Raiders for the 15th time in the last 17 meetings between the longtime AFC West rivals and lead the all-time series, 72-54-2. Coach And Reid is 17-3 against the Silver and Black, while quarterback Mahomes is 9-1 against his AFC West rival.

Mahomes didn’t have his biggest game, completing 18-of-26 passes for 202 yards and a two-yard touchdown flip to running back Jerrick McKinnon to cap a 75-yard drive with the opening drive.

That drive was highlighted by Mahomes’ 67-yard pass to wide receiver Justin Watson to the Las Vegas three-yard-line on the game's second offensive play, and Kansas City was in charge from the start.

The Chiefs, who beat the Raiders, 30-29, in Week 5, added a two-yard touchdown run by running back Ronald Jones, an 11-yard scoring run by running back Kadarius Toney, and a 44-yard field goal by Harrison Butker to make it 24-3 at halftime and the Raiders never made a challenge.

Jarrett Stidham, making his second start since veteran quarterback Derek Carr was benched for the last two games of the season and apparently is on his way out of town, completed 22-of-36 passes for 219 yards, and was sacked six times, including twice by defensive tackle Chris Jones, who had 15 this season.

Stidham did lead the Raiders in rushing by scrambling seven times for 50 yards. Still, after throwing two interceptions last Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, he again had two turnovers with another interception and a lost fumble on one of the sacks.

Wide receiver Hunter Renfrow led the Raiders with seven receptions for 63 yards and an 11-yard touchdown from Stidham at 6:37 left when the game was long out of reach, while fellow wide receiver Davante Adams caught five passes for 73 yards, and tight end Darren Waller had two catches for 35 yards.

Running back Josh Jacobs, the league’s leading rusher, played despite his father having open-heart surgery a few days ago, and the Chiefs held him to 45 yards on 17 carries.

All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce led the Chiefs with six catches for 38 yards as Mahomes spread the ball around among eight receivers, while rookie running back Isiah Pacheco led Kansas City with 64 yards on eight carries, including a one-yard touchdown run with 11:03 left in the game to make it 31-6.

Linebacker Luke Masterson led the Raiders with nine total tackles. At the same time, safety Duron Harmon had seven, and fellow safety Roderic Teamer added five. In comparison, defensive end Maxx Crosby made four tackles, two for losses, and had a quarterback hit and a sack to give him 12½ this season.

All that’s left for the Raiders is to get ready for the NFL Draft, the free agent signing period, and hope to be able to finish off games next season after losing nine games by a touchdown or less

Unfortunately, this wasn’t one of them.

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