The Kansas City Chiefs took care of business against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 18. They needed a win to clinch the AFC’s No. 1 seed and a first-round bye week and that’s exactly what they did. Most importantly, it came on the back of a complete performance from the offense, defense and special teams — something that had been lacking at times during the course of the year.
So what else did we learn about the Chiefs in their final regular-season game?
Final Score: Chiefs 31, Raiders 13
In a season where the Chiefs have seemingly played nothing but weird and close games, it felt good to see them take care of business against a lesser opponent. It felt even better knowing that the No. 1 seed in the AFC conference was riding on a victory in this game. They came out and took care of business to complete a six-game sweep of the AFC West division and earn a first-round bye in the playoffs.
Weekly Awards
- Chiefs Wire Game Ball: DT Chris Jones
- Harrison Butker Rookie of the Game: DE George Karlaftis
- Casey Wiegmann Veteran of the Game: RB Ronald Jones
- Jamaal Charles Offensive Player of the Game: QB Patrick Mahomes
- Bobby Bell Defensive Player of the Game: S Juan Thornhill
- Morten Andersen Special Teams Player of the Game: P Tommy Townsend
- Otis Taylor Play of the Game: Chiefs RB Jerick McKinnon’s 2-yard touchdown reception.
- Wesley Roesch Stat of the Game: Raiders 4.2 yards per average gain.
Quick-hitting observations and analysis
- Chris Jones is so insanely good against both the pass and the run. There were numerous times in this game when he aligned at different spots and forced an offensive lineman into the backfield to affect the play. He tied his single-season record of 15.5 sacks with 2.5 sacks against the Raiders today.
- Las Vegas tried to force Kansas City into their base personnel with several alignments. Part of that is simply because of the heavy personnel they run under Josh McDaniels, but it felt like they did it more frequently to force the Chiefs into bad matchup situations. Darius Harris and Leo Chenal were on the field as opposed to Willie Gay Jr., who is the team’s best coverage linebacker.
- Justin Reid and Juan Thornhill have been playing well down the stretch. Reid recorded his first sack of the season in Week 18. Thornhill recorded an interception on the following play. They’ll need to keep that up in the postseason.
- The Chiefs’ “spinning” huddle play was one of the more unique plays we’ve seen from the team this season. I wonder if it isn’t a preview of what is to come in the postseason
- On that same note, Kadarius Toney continues to be more involved on offense, but especially in the red zone. He’s such a fun player when he has the ball in his hands and it seems like he always has a chance to take it for six.
- Ronald Jones got his first touchdown of the season in Week 18. It was a short-yardage play on the goal line, which begs the question of whether he’ll get more of those opportunities moving forward.
- George Karlaftis managed his sixth sack in the past seven games. He’s coming on extremely strong late in the season and showing exactly why he was made a first-round draft pick last April.
- The holder thing may be up for debate, but Tommy Townsend is a hell of a punter. He pinned the Raiders deep twice today, with a long punt of 61 yards.
- It felt like the Raiders were being petty and playing ball-control offense just to ensure that Mahomes didn’t get the single-season passing yards record. They were down 21 points and running the ball on first down. Not a great way to “evaluate” a quarterback, which they claim to be doing with Jarrett Stidham.
- Patrick Mahomes has still never lost to a team on the road in the AFC West, with a 16-0 record during his career.
- Nick Bolton set a new single-season franchise record with 180 total tackles, one more than Derrick Johnson’s 179 total tackles (2011)
Up next:
After clinching the AFC’s No. 1 seed, the Chiefs get the lone bye week in the wild-card round of the playoffs. They get extra time to prepare and watch the AFC playoff picture unfold from the comfort of their own homes. They’ll await their opponent in the AFC’s divisional round at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
