Three takeaways from the Raiders’ 31-13 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday at Allegiant Stadium:
1. It’s over
A season filled with hope and expectations came to a merciful end Saturday as the Raiders went 6-11 and started the offseason early a year after qualifying for the playoffs.
After the Chiefs drove down the field and scored five minutes into the game, the Raiders mounted a promising attack only to be forced to settle for a field goal.
That set the tone for the rest of the day.
Kansas City, which finishes 14-3 and as the AFC’s No. 1 seed with another division title, scored points on three of its first four drives and left little doubt about the final outcome.
The Raiders finish the season riding a three game losing streak and having lost four of their last five games.
Now they can turn their attention to an offseason that will likely be marked by the team’s first starting quarterback change in nearly a decade.
In his last tryout before free agency, Jarrett Stidham went 22 of 36 for 219 yards and fumbled twice.
He also rushed for 50 yards as he was constantly under pressure and had to escape from the box.
The Raiders finish third in the division and will have a top-10 pick in the draft for the first time since 2019.
2. Dynamic duo
Davante Adams caught five passes for 73 yards and surpassed 1,500 receiving yards for the second straight season.
Running back Josh Jacobs had reached that threshold before the game started.
This makes the Raiders the fourth team in NFL history to have a 1,500-yard rusher and a 1,500-yard receiver in the same season, and the first since Mike Anderson and Rod Smith did it for the Broncos in 2000. .
Jacobs, who was doubtful that he would take the field on Saturday, was limited to 45 yards on 17 carries, although it should be enough to lift him to the NFL running back title.
Jacobs finishes with 1,653 yards and leads Cleveland’s Nick Chubb by 205 yards and Tennessee’s Derrick Henry by 224 in his bid to become the first Raiders player since Marcus Allen in 1985 to lead the league in rushing. Chubb and Henry each have one game left.
In addition to the hip and oblique injuries he’s been battling, Jacobs returned home to Oklahoma after his father underwent emergency heart surgery.
He returned to Las Vegas on Friday night and decided to suit up after going through warm-ups leading up to Saturday’s game.
Adams achieved some milestones of his own, recording at least 100 sacks for the fourth time in his career.
He is the 12th player in NFL history to do so and one of eight to do so in their first nine seasons.
Adams is also the ninth player in history with multiple seasons of at least 100 receptions and at least 1,500 yards.
3. Mahomes is still Mahomes
The only way for the Raiders to really progress in the division is for them to find some way to slow down the Chiefs, who won their seventh straight AFC West title.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City offense once again showed how great the division is by scoring 24 points in the first half to pretty much doom the game before Sublime with Roma took the stage for the halftime show.
Although the Chiefs had struggled to find consistency before Saturday’s game, there were few signs of it in the game.
A 98-yard touchdown run in the first half was the franchise’s longest since 2018, which also came against the Raiders.
With his 202 passing yards and 29 rushing yards, Mahomes set the NFL record for most offensive yards in a season and showed the Chiefs can once again be a force to be reckoned with in the postseason.
Mahomes has nine wins and one loss against the Raiders and has never lost a game on the road against a division rival.
The Raiders won’t be in that tournament and will instead start figuring out who will play quarterback for them next season.
Until they can at least close the position gap, it’s going to be hard to really progress.