In a shocking upset, the Las Vegas Raiders kept their playoff hopes alive with a 20-14 road victory over the division rival Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day.
Antonio Pierce's defense dealt Patrick Mahomes his first career division loss in the months of November or December, holding the Chiefs to just 4.2 yards per play and forcing two turnovers along the way -- each of which turned into a touchdown. The Raiders held on for the victory despite rookie quarterback Aidan O'Connell not completing a single pass in the final three quarters of the game.
They did so thanks to a defense that yielded only two touchdowns on 11 Kansas City drives, and came up with a pair of massive fourth-down stops in the second half along the way. The win keeps the Raiders afloat in both the AFC playoff race and the AFC West race, setting up an enormous stretch run for each of these teams.
Here are a few more things to know about the game.
Why the Raiders won
Their defensive line dominated the proceedings from start to finish, and they came up with the two most important plays of the contest when it mattered most. Maxx Crosby, Malcolm Koonce, and Co. totaled four sacks and seven tackles for loss, and had Mahomes on the run all game long. The Chiefs running game was non-existent, and the pass-catchers were only scarcely open throughout the afternoon. It was, simply, one of the best defensive performances of the season. And that's even before accounting for the two defensive scores. Oh, and Zamir White did a beautiful job filling in for for Josh Jacobs, totaling 145 yards on 22 carries.
Why the Chiefs lost
Their offense was totally inept for the significant majority of the afternoon. As previously mentioned, they got dominated up front, they could not run the ball, and they yielded two defensive touchdowns. Mahomes ended the game averaging a mere 5.3 yards per attempt with one touchdown and one interception, and the Chiefs broke just four plays longer than 13 yards all afternoon. This is a unit that was thoroughly dominated, and it showed in the final score.
Turning point
Late in the first half, the Chiefs held a 7-3 lead despite having looked mostly awful on offense throughout the game. They totaled -10 yards on 11 plays through their first three possessions, but managed to take a lead with a 10-play, 74-yard drive in the second quarter. And they had a chance to add to their lead after receiving the ball at their own 13-yard line with 5 minutes left in the second quarter.
But then disaster struck. On back-to-back snaps, the Chiefs turned the ball over, and the Raiders took it to the house for a touchdown. The first of those two plays was a scoop-and-score fumble recovery by Bilal Nichols.
That was the second straight trick play the Chiefs tried, after their previous drive ended with Isiah Pacheco faking a pitch back to Mahomes and taking off around the edge to scoot in for a touchdown. Alas, the sequel was not so successful.
That was bad enough, but then...
Highlight play
...Jack Jones turned in his second pick-six in two weeks, jumping in front of a curl route intended for Justin Watson on the right sideline. Mahomes did not put nearly enough on the throw, and Jones easily beat the receiver to the ball and zoomed up the sideline and into the end zone.
Just like that, within a mere SEVEN seconds of game time, the Raiders went from trailing 7-3 to leading 17-7. And they would never relinquish that lead the rest of the way.
What's next
The Raiders are 7-8 after the victory and are technically still alive in both the playoff race and, amazingly, the AFC West. If they win out and the Chiefs lose out, they will win the division. Vegas' two remaining games are at Indianapolis and home against Denver.
The Chiefs are 9-6 with the loss and are no longer alive for the No. 1 seed in the AFC. They can still win the West with just one more victory, but it's highly likely that if they want to get to the Super Bowl, they will have to win a road playoff game for the first time in the Mahomes era. They host the Bengals next week and visit the Chargers for the regular-season finale.