Chiefs get back to having fun in a 26-15 win over Raiders on Sunday

Before the Chiefs’ showdown against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday, it had been weeks since they appeared to have fun playing football.

During a four-game losing streak that simultaneously reduced expectations and caused many to rightfully question this team’s resolve, big plays were hard to come by — and so were celebrations.

Penalties, meanwhile, were plentiful, seemingly matched only by the number of boneheaded plays and mistakes the Chiefs were making.

But on Sunday, with their backs against the wall, the Chiefs responded with their most complete effort in months, as the offense went up and down the field while the defense locked down a dangerous passing game in a rollicking 26-15 victory in front of an announced crowd of 74,461 at Arrowhead Stadium.

While the offense’s 408-yard performance Sunday wasn’t necessarily a surprise — the Chiefs showed signs of life under new play-caller Matt Nagy last week, despite a 38-31 loss to the New York Jets — holding Oakland to 268 total yards could not have been predicted.

After all, the Raiders are the same team that lit up the Chiefs for 417 passing yards in a 31-30 Oakland win in October. And the Chiefs were charged with preventing a repeat performance Sunday without Marcus Peters, their best cornerback, who was suspended for his actions during and after the Jets loss.

Yet, the Chiefs’ defensive energy seemed sky-high — as high as it has been all season — as they held Raiders quarterback Derek Carr to a 211 yards passing and intercepted him twice.

“Everybody rallied together and supported each other,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “Not that they haven’t before, but if something didn’t go quite right (today), they were all in there. They made a point to do that.”

Cornerback Steven Nelson jump-started the defensive enthusiasm by knocking a pass away from (while simultaneously barking at) Raiders receiver Michael Crabtree. On the next play, defensive lineman Jarvis Jenkins snuffed a run by Marshawn Lynch for a 1-yard loss and celebrated by flexing his muscles. And on third down, defensive tackle Chris Jones hauled down Carr for a 7-yard loss and punctuated the sack with a stroll and Popeye flex pose.

“Anytime you can hit the quarterback the way he was hit early, that affects him,” Reid said. “The first series set the tempo, yes.”

It was a sign of things to come. The Chiefs proceeded to pose and preen all day long. Even the kicker got into the action when Harrison Butker immediately punctuated a career-long 53-yard field goal on the Chiefs’ first drive with an enthusiastic fist pump.

Rookie running back Kareem Hunt joined the fray as well, celebrating a 1-yard plunge that put the Chiefs ahead by 10 early in the first quarter by simulating a basketball tip-off with receiver Tyreek Hill in the end zone.

It was hard to blame Hunt (25 carries for 116 yards) for the show of enthusiasm. Hunt not only crossed the 100-yard barrier for the first time in seven games, the rushing touchdown was also his first in nine games — since the Chiefs’ win over the Chargers in Week 3 nearly two months ago. Hunt also crossed the 1,000-yard mark as a runner on Sunday, becoming the first Chiefs rookie to do that since Joe Delaney in 1981.

“The way he’s carried himself, how much he cares, how much he invests –– you know how much it means to him,” said Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith. “There’s not a guy on this team that’s not happy for him.”

Reid also credited the offensive line, which looked as good in the run game as it has in weeks.

“I thought the offensive line did a heck of a job today,” Reid said. “I was proud of them with how they handled that.”

But Hunt wasn’t the only Chief to get back on track Sunday. After another Chiefs field goal, cornerback Terrance Mitchell recorded his first interception since that Chargers game, hauling in a wobbly floater from Carr to extinguish an Oakland march.

The Chiefs added another field goal from there to take a 16-0 lead into the break, and at that point, the stats reflected the Chiefs’ dominance: they’d outgained the Raiders 235-68 and had not even punted yet.

The good times didn’t end in the second half. The Chiefs got the ball to open the third quarter and added another field goal to take a 19-0 lead.

And after a turnover by each offense — Nelson stripped receiver Johnny Holton, while Raiders safety Karl Joseph intercepted Smith ,who was 20 of 34 for 268 yards — the Chiefs effectively buried the Raiders with a final scoring drive late in the third quarter. Charcandrick West found the end zone on a 13-yard run in which he dodged several tacklers and kept churning forward to give the Chiefs a 26-0 lead.

Oakland added a pair of meaningless touchdowns in the fourth quarter on a 22-yard run by running back Marshawn Lynch (seven carries for 61 yards) and a 29-yard catch by tight end Jared Cook (five catches for 75 yards).

The Chiefs improved to 7-6 and seized control of their destiny in the AFC West. The Raiders, meanwhile, fell to 6-7.

The Chiefs’ win also prevented the Raiders from owning a tiebreaker over the Chiefs in the division. The Chargers entered the day tied with the Chiefs and Raiders at 6-6, but the Chiefs can remain in the driver’s seat, and seize that tiebreaker, too, with a home win against the Chargers on Saturday.

From there, the Chiefs’ remaining two games are a home date against Miami, 5-7, on Christmas Eve and a New Year’s Eve road test against a dead-man-walking Denver team that entered the week 3-9. A second straight division crown is definitely in play for the Chiefs.

The Chiefs enjoyed their win over the Raiders on Sunday. Now, the trick is to take the same mentality to the Chargers with a shorter week to prepare than normal.

“That’s the deal, that’s the name of the game,” Smith said. “We’ve got to figure out how to keep it going.”

This story was originally published December 10, 2017 at 3:40 PM with the headline "Chiefs get back to having fun in a 26-15 win over Raiders on Sunday."