Chiefs Can Take It: AFC West, That Is : Pro football: With abuse and batteries being hurled at them, Kansas City and Allen wrap up division title, 29-23.

The good people of Oakland attacked the Kansas City Chiefs first. They chased their team buses into a stadium tunnel Sunday morning bearing gifts of garbage, water balloons and a Steve Bono doll hanging from a noose.

The Raiders struck next, scoring a touchdown with only 61 seconds expired in the game, knocking quarterback Bono from the field minutes later. They danced and preened amid thousands of tattoos pleading for more pain.

Which makes this morning’s standings even more interesting.

Because it is the Chiefs who have everybody surrounded.

It is the Chiefs who are the tough guys, the intimidating guys. It is the Chiefs who are the AFC West champions for the second time in three years after a 29-23 victory over the Raiders before 53,930 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

“All summer long, people talked about us finishing in last place, about us being nothing ,” Chief defensive tackle Joe Phillips said in a raucous visiting locker room. “Well, guess who just won the thing?”

And yes, it is the Chiefs who have beaten the Raiders 12 of the last 13 meetings in what--with the demise of the Cleveland Brown-Pittsburgh Steeler series--has become football’s most heartfelt rivalry.

In 74 meetings, the Raiders have won 36 times, the Chiefs have won 36 times, and there have been two ties.

“There is animosity between these teams, real animosity,” Phillips said. “By us surviving that little bump in the road early in the game, we showed we know what it takes to get through that.”

In achieving football’s best record at 11-2, the Chiefs proved they can take a punch. And a kick. And a grab of the facemask. And a knee to the groin.

And a double-A battery to the back. And a piece of fruit off the helmet. And a cup of beer down the shirt.

The Raiders and their fans were the hosts from hell, with the team racking up 105 yards worth of penalties--many of them personal fouls--while the crowd constantly pelted the Chiefs with a catalogue’s worth of items.

“I came down to the field with about seven minutes left and the first thing I thought was, ‘What am I doing here without a helmet?’ ” said Kansas City General Manager Carl Peterson, who saved a battery as a souvenir.

The Chiefs countered with a divine defense and an other-world running back named Marcus Allen.

The defense, ranked fourth in the NFL, held Harvey Williams, the conference’s fourth-leading rusher, to five yards in seven carries for a 0.7-yard average.

It also forced three lost fumbles and two interceptions while causing backup quarterback Vince Evans to personally commit turnovers on four consecutive drives in the second half.

Allen, meanwhile, did what he usually does against a team that kicked him out three years ago.

He ran them into the ground, set records in the process, then denied that any of it mattered.

Although after gaining 157 total yards while becoming the first player in NFL history to record 10,000 rushing and 5,000 yards pass receiving, Allen could not fool his teammates.

“It’s like he wants to always put it in their face,” defensive end Neil Smith said.

After his first game at Oakland, Allen admitted, “Every time I reach a milestone, it seems like it’s against this team. I don’t know if there is some sort of justice there or what.”

The Raiders, who lost their first game against the Chiefs this season on an interception return in overtime, thought they would be vindicated after Terry McDaniel grabbed a tipped pass from Bono and returned it 42 yards for a Raider touchdown with 13:59 remaining in the first quarter.

On the Chiefs’ next series, Pat Swilling knocked the ball from Bono’s hand, then Bono fell on that hand, suffering a sprain that forced him to leave the game. The Raiders were howling.

“They were all saying that the first game was fluke, that we were just lucky,” Chief defensive tackle Dan Saleaumua said.

But there is a reason the Chiefs have succeeded with few genuine stars.

“We don’t always play the way we like to play, but we never fail to play with everything within us,” Coach Marty Schottenheimer said.

On Sunday, one of those things within them was Rich Gannon, a backup quarterback who had not appeared in a game since the season opener, and had not thrown a pass all season.

After replacing Bono, he led the Chiefs on a 76-yard touchdown drive in his second series. It ended with Gannon doing a perfect Bono imitation on a play-action bootleg in which he found himself running 12 yards untouched into the end zone against a totally fooled defense .

“Same old Raiders,” Smith said. “They make the same mistakes over and over and over again.”

After the Raiders answered with a field goal, Bono returned. Two plays and one 26-yard pass later, Kimble Anders ran 23 yards over the stunned Raiders to give the Chiefs a lead they never lost.

The Raiders are 8-5 with two of their final three games at home, and sore-shouldered quarterback Jeff Hostetler is expected to return soon, so the playoffs are more than a possibility. But problems abound.

“Something is missing on this football team,” Coach Mike White said. “There is a paralysis and it keeps popping up. There is an ingredient between the ears that has to change.”

In many ways, these are not the Oakland Raiders of old.

Even Art Shell, Chief offensive line coach and former Raider great, spent the game dodging fruit and batteries.

“These aren’t the people I remember,” he said.