Raiders Earn Spot in Layoffs : Pro football: Hostetler’s interception just before halftime is returned for a touchdown. That’s the biggest mistake in 19-9 loss to Chiefs, who clinch last postseason berth.

Raider quarterback Jeff Hostetler sank to his knees on the wet Coliseum grass Saturday afternoon and watched his season disappear into the end zone.

Bad call. Bad throw. Bad year.

One minute, the Raiders were marching toward the field goal that would have put them within a point of the Kansas City Chiefs at halftime. One ill-advised flick of Hostetler’s wrist later, Chief defensive back Mark Collins was going the other way with a 78-yard interception return for a touchdown. That shattered the Raiders, sending Kansas City on its way to a 19-9 victory and a wild-card playoff spot and the Raiders home for the holidays, eliminated on the last day of the regular season.

So frustrating for the silver and black and the sellout crowd of 64,130, so painful and so typical of this season. All the problems that turned this year from one of bright hopes in the summer to the dark days of another winter of discontent for the Raiders surfaced again Saturday, leaving the team out of the playoffs for the second time in three years.

Penalties, mistakes, dropped balls, injuries and questionable play-calling. It was all there.

And so was Marcus Allen.

The man who left the team in anger two years ago after his longstanding feud with owner Al Davis went public came back to haunt his old team in the stadium where he enjoyed his greatest glory as a Raider and USC Trojan.

If it indeed turns out that the Raiders, unhappy with the Coliseum, decide to play elsewhere next year, it was only fitting that Allen would gain 132 yards and become the ninth man in NFL history to go over 10,000 yards rushing in what might be the last pro game ever played here.

But the Raiders didn’t need to look across the line to find the reason for the defeat that dropped them to 9-7 and out of action. A look in the mirror would suffice.

--They couldn’t run. The Raider offense generated 53 yards on the ground, Harvey Williams gaining 48 to leave him 17 yards shy of 1,000 for the season.

--They couldn’t pass. Hostetler completed 14 of 27 for 167 yards before being knocked from the game in the fourth quarter because of a sprained ankle. But he didn’t complete a pass from the time he threw the crucial interception on the final play of the first half until the Raiders’ final drive of the fourth quarter, going zero for six over a span of 27 minutes.

--They couldn’t play defense, surrendering 422 yards in offense to Kansas City. Chief quarterback Joe Montana lived up to his reputation of being one of the greatest big-game players of all time.

--And they couldn’t stop making mistakes.

On a day when the Raiders laid claim to their own spot in the NFL Hall of Shame by becoming the most penalized team league history, two penalties in particular stood out.

The first came on the opening drive of the game. Raider defensive tackle Chester McGlockton was whistled offside.

The Chiefs never hesitated, Montana spotting receiver Willie Davis streaking down the right side. But safety Patrick Bates pulled up, leaving Davis wide open to catch a 47-yard touchdown pass.

“Even if the flag is thrown,” said obviously distressed Raider Coach Art Shell, “you don’t stop. But he (Bates) didn’t have the depth.”

Raider cornerback Albert Lewis put it a little more bluntly.

“We didn’t hesitate,” he said. “We screwed up. We all saw the same thing, but we had different reads. We just blew it.”

So it wasn’t anything Montana did?

“Hell,” Lewis said, “It had nothing to do with Montana. It had to do with us. You (reporters) could have thrown it. He was that wide open.”

The Raiders came back in the second quarter with a drive that consumed 12:14. They made it all the way to the Kansas City three-yard line.

But no further.

On first down, Williams was stopped for no gain. On second down, Hostetler threw incomplete.

On third down, a strange option play went awry, Hostetler making a nearly disastrous lateral to Williams that the Raider tailback recovered for a nine-yard loss.

The Raiders settled for a 30-yard field goal by Jeff Jaeger, but that was small consolation for 12 minutes of possession.

Then came the most disastrous play of all.

With 12 seconds to play in the half, the Raiders had driven to the Kansas City 28. From there, Jaeger, who kicked five field goals last week against Seattle, would have had a 45-yard attempt.

The Raiders were out of timeouts.

“I thought we were kicking,” said Hostetler, who has had his differences with the play-calling this season.

Instead, the Raiders called one more pass play to try to get closer for Jaeger.

As Hostetler faded back to pass, Kansas City lineman Neil Smith got past Greg Skrepenak and got his hands on Hostetler, who was trying to get rid of the ball.

“I was trying to throw it away, into the second row,” Hostetler said.

Instead, when Smith smashed his arm, the Raider quarterback threw the ball right into the arms of Collins, who never looked back, scoring the touchdown that gave the Chiefs a 14-3 halftime margin.

“In hindsight,” Shell said, “I should have gone ahead and kicked the ball. With 12 seconds, I wanted to move it up a little closer. It was a breakdown in protection.”

Lin Elliott’s 22-yard field goal gave Kansas City a 17-3 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

With one last shot for the Raiders to get back into the game, they gave up a safety when they committed yet another penalty, center Don Mosebar being called for tripping Dan Saleaumua in the end zone.

The Raiders were called for nine penalties totaling 49 yards. That gave them 156 penalties for the season. The 1989 Houston Oilers held the old NFL mark of 149.

After Hostetler left, his backup, Vince Evans, completed a 65-yard touchdown pass to Alexander Wright.

But it was too little too late.

The Raiders began the game with the knowledge that the New England Patriots had beaten the Chicago Bears, putting the Raiders’ fate in their own hands.

That was the problem.