-
Adam Teicher, ESPN writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chiefs clinched a playoff berth for the 10th consecutive season with their 19-17 victory over the Raiders on Friday, but for some of the players, this clinch didn’t necessarily feel like the rest.
The Chiefs had to go all the way to outlast the Raiders 2-10, and the game was decided when Kansas City recovered a Las Vegas fumble with 11 seconds left. The Chiefs then ran out the clock with a cross to secure another victory.
They are 11-1, but five of their victories were not resolved until the last serve.
“It’s not perfect, and we’ve had a lot of games this year where we didn’t play the way we wanted to,” Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie said. “The thing about a championship team is games like this where things aren’t perfect. You’re grateful you won, but you know you’ve set the standard. And when we have games like this and we don’t feel like it, we’ve played by the level we’ve set for ourselves, it’s always a little disappointing, a little frustrating.
The Chiefs can clinch a ninth straight AFC West title by beating the Los Angeles Chargers on Dec. 8 at Arrowhead Stadium. They increased their lead over the Buffalo Bills (9-2), the only team to beat them this season, for the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
They had many anxious moments to get there. The Chiefs held what appeared to be a comfortable 16-3 lead late in the third quarter before the Raiders went on consecutive touchdown drives to take the lead. The Chiefs got the ball back with a field goal, only to see the Raiders get to the edge of field goal range at the Kansas City 32-yard line when they fumbled in what turned out to be their eighth straight loss.
“When you get a playoff berth, that’s your first goal: to make the playoffs and have a chance to go for that Super Bowl,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “But we know we have a long way to go. We have to keep working to improve, to continue being a better football team.”
“It keeps you hungry. You’re not satisfied with where we are even though we’re winning football games, so we know we have to get better. I think everyone in the locker room knows we have to get better.” But we want to go out and do that and prove it.”
Last week, the Chiefs similarly survived against another sub-.500 opponent. They led the Carolina Panthers by 14 points at the end of the first half, but needed a field goal to get one of those wins on the final play.
Defensive tackle Chris Jones had two sacks on Friday, his first since Week 4. He said the Chiefs would remember the many things they did wrong against the Raiders (allowing two long touchdown passes, their two offside penalties, giving up 434 yards), as much as what they accomplished.
He also indicated that another close finish would be good for Kansas City.
“When you look at the playoffs, most of the games are close, last-minute games, so there’s a lot we can build off of this as a team overall,” Jones said. “We’re going to keep winning, keep winning. You can learn a lot by winning.”
“It’s better to win than suffer a beautiful loss. We’ll take a bad win, build from it and continue to improve.”
