Kansas City wide receiver Xavier Worthy (1) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Las Vegas Raiders during the second half of an NFL football game on Oct. 27 in Las Vegas.Steve Marcus/The Associated Press
Patrick Mahomes passed for 262 yards and two touchdowns and two-time defending champion Kansas City remained undefeated with a 27-20 victory over the reeling Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
Kansas City (7-0) extended its winning streak to 13 games, including the playoffs. Their last loss was at home to Las Vegas, but KC is 5-0 against the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium and 6-0 there including the Super Bowl in February.
Las Vegas (2-6) has lost four consecutive games, but this was the first time the Raiders had scored at least 20 points since a 20-16 victory over Cleveland on Sept. 29.
Mahomes became the fastest quarterback in NFL history to reach 30,000 yards, doing it in his 103rd game. Matthew Stafford had hit that mark at 109 games.
Mahomes’s top target was Travis Kelce, who had 10 catches for 90 yards, both season highs. He last caught double-digit passes on Oct. 22, 2023, and this was the highest-yardage output since Nov. 26.
Kelce also had a touchdown catch, his 75th to pass Jason Witten for fifth on the NFL tight end list. Kelce moved within two of breaking Tony Gonzalez’s team record.
Gardner Minshew completed 24 of 30 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns for Las Vegas, but was sacked five times. Jakobi Meyers, who missed the two previous games because of an ankle injury, caught six passes for 52 yards and the TD.
Minshew had the burden of carrying an offence that had virtually no running game, finishing with 33 yards, averaging 1.6 per carry.
The Raiders, however, made the champs work for this victory. But Las Vegas failed to take advantage of key opportunities
The Raiders had the ball and 1:57 left on the clock at the end of the first half, but went with two running plays before an incomplete pass on third down. Kansas City got the ball back and went 56 yards on nine plays for Harrison Butker’s 42-yard field goal with four seconds left that made it 17-10.
Las Vegas trailed 17-13 in the third quarter when safety Tre’von Moehrig intercepted Mahomes’s pass to give the Raiders the ball at the KC three. Running plays by Alexander Mattison led to plays of two yards, a no gain and a loss of two before Minshew was sacked on fourth down.
KC then went 87 yards on 19 carries, taking 9:43 off the clock, to set up another field goal from Butker, this one from 24 yards, early in the fourth quarter for a seven-point lead.
A strip sack of Minshew set up the final KC touchdown with 4:59 left.