Raiders’ Unhappy Ending : Pro football: After winning three games at the finish, last-minute defeat leaves them in difficult position.

The problem with staging so many last-minute finishes, exciting as the games may be, is that sometimes you lose.

The Raiders, tempting the law of averages for weeks, found out as much Monday night in their 24-21 loss to the Chiefs at Kansas City. After winning three games in similar fashion this season against San Francisco, Seattle and the Rams, the Raiders finally ended up on the short end.

With a bye week to mull over the defeat, the Raiders must ask themselves how they could blow a 21-10 fourth-quarter lead; why quarterback Jay Schroeder threw a third-down pass into the teeth of the secondary, and how an almost certain interception could slip through the fingers of Ronnie Lott.

“We lost a game we should have won,” Coach Art Shell said Tuesday. “We know we should have won. We let it get away from us. It’s hard to swallow.”

Blemishes that go unnoticed in exciting last-minute victories suddenly become concerns in exciting last-minute losses.

The Tuesday microscope zeroed in once again on quarterback Schroeder, who continues to tease with his talent and torture with his costly, ill-timed mistakes.

Schroeder redeemed much of a maligned career in 1990 by honing his considerable skills into a conservative, reliable package. He finished with the best touchdown-to-interception ratio of his career, 19-9. But 1991 has seen the return of some old Schroeder habits, most of them bad.

Through nine games, he has thrown 11 interceptions and 10 touchdowns. But it is more the magnitude of the interceptions that worries the Raiders.

Against the Seahawks, one of Schroeder’s passes was intercepted and returned 32 yards for a touchdown, but the mistake was lost in the luster of the Raiders’ second-half comeback victory.

Monday night, two of Schroeder’s three interceptions were glaring. In the first quarter, an underthrown pass intended for Willie Gault was intercepted by cornerback Jayice Pearson and returned 43 yards, setting up Kansas City’s first touchdown.

But that was nothing compared to the unforgivable pass he threw in the fourth quarter, on third and goal at the six-yard line.

The Raiders led at the time, 21-10, and were riding high after a fake punt attempt on which Jeff Gossett threw 34 yards to Elvis Patterson, giving the Raiders a first down at the Kansas City 21.

Moving down to the six, the Raiders were already in range for a field goal by Jeff Jaeger that would have made it 24-10. Schroeder, though, rolled left out of the pocket and threw right across his body, the pass intended for Tim Brown.

The pass, intercepted by Lloyd Burruss and returned 83 yards, ignited a two-touchdown Chief rally in the final minutes.

Schroeder’s propensity for big mistakes has not gone unnoticed.

“Yeah, it’s a concern,” Shell said. “It’s a concern any time you turn the ball over.”

The coaching staff might be criticized for allowing Schroeder to attempt such a dangerous pass in that situation, except that Schroeder’s folly was an ad-lib.

“He wasn’t supposed to roll,” Shell said. “He felt some pressure and he came out of the pocket. Either you run the ball or throw it in the end zone, throw it away. He just made a mistake. You can’t afford those kinds of mistakes.”

On Sunday, a mental error by New England quarterback Hugh Millen preserved a 9-6 victory for the Denver Broncos.

Had the Raiders won and the Broncos lost, the Raiders would be alone in first place in the AFC Western Division at 6-3. Instead, they share third place with Seattle at 5-4, both teams trailing Denver (6-2) and Kansas City (6-3).

Denver closes its season against New England, Cleveland, Phoenix and San Diego; the Raiders finish with San Diego, Buffalo, New Orleans and Kansas City.