Chiefs Can Still Do One Thing Right in Disappointing Season

Even a victory over the hated Oakland Raiders could provide little more than temporary joy for the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chiefs, one of the NFL’s biggest disappointments this season, extended their dominance of the Raiders in a 31-24 victory on Saturday. The Chiefs have won 17 of their last 19 games against the Raiders.

Derrick Thomas returned a fumble 44 yards for a touchdown, and Tony Gonzalez had a 20-yard touchdown reception to break a fourth-quarter tie for the Chiefs (7-9).

“Unfortunately, we can’t use this as a springboard, because we’re not in the playoffs,” Thomas said. “We’ll just have to savor this for a while.”

Bam Morris had two one-yard touchdown runs and Pete Stoyanovich had a 30-yard field goal for the Chiefs. Elvis Grbac, in his first start since Nov. 8, completed 20 of 32 passes for 254 yards with two interceptions and the touchdown to Gonzalez.

“We talked all week about this being the one you’re going to remember for eight to nine months, so there’s some solace in that,” Chief Coach Marty Schottenheimer said. “But, you know, let’s face it, we expected far more. We’re disappointed.”

The Raiders (8-8) lost two quarterbacks--Wade Wilson and Donald Hollas--to groin injuries in the game and finished with a third quarterback--Jeff George--who has missed most of the season because of a similar injury. Also standing on the sideline with a groin injury was running back Napoleon Kaufman, who did not play the final three games of the season.

“We’re going to have to find some groin-strengthening machines or something. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Raider Coach Jon Gruden said. “A lot of our salary cap was standing on the sideline with groin injuries.”

Wilson was 13 for 18 for 127 yards before hurting his groin while dropping back to pass early in the third quarter. He was replaced by Hollas, who went out of the game after 11 plays. George, who hadn’t played a full game since late September because of his groin injury, was nine for 18 for 138 yards.

Just in case George couldn’t play, wide receiver Tim Brown took some warmup tosses on the sideline.

Wilson completed five consecutive passes for 59 yards as the Raiders took a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter on a 13-yard touchdown pass to Brown.

An interception by Charles Woodson, the fifth of the season for the rookie cornerback, led to Randy Jordan’s 10-yard touchdown run and a 14-0 Oakland lead.

Grbac’s passes of 29 and 14 yards to Derrick Alexander led the Chiefs on their first scoring drive, culminating in Morris’ dive over the middle of the line early in the second quarter.

The Chiefs tied the score early in the third quarter on Morris’ second scoring run, following a pass interference penalty on Woodson in the end zone.

After a field goal by each team, Leslie O’Neal sacked Hollas and forced a fumble that Thomas scooped up and returned for a touchdown and a 24-17 Chief lead.

“The dreaded turnover got us again today,” said Brown, who had four of the Raiders’ six fumbles. “We’ve just got to find a way to hold on to the ball.”

The Raiders tied the score with 9:17 remaining on James Jett’s 15-yard touchdown reception, the first touchdown pass by George since Sept. 27 at Dallas.

But the Chiefs responded with a 76-yard drive, capped by Grbac’s touchdown pass to Gonzalez with 5:56 left.

The attendance of 52,679 was about 10,500 short of a sellout. The Raiders did not sell out a home game this season, and have been blacked out on TV in Northern California for 15 consecutive games.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Playoff Picture

Playoff scenarios as provided by the NFL (Teams that have qualified are in CAPS):

AFC

* BUFFALO--Has clinched playoff berth.

* DENVER--Has clinched AFC West title and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.

* JACKSONVILLE--Has clinched AFC Central title.

* MIAMI--Has clinched playoff berth.

* NEW ENGLAND--Has clinched playoff berth.

* N.Y. JETS--Have clinched AFC East title and a first-round bye.

NFC

* Arizona--Can clinch playoff berth with win or New York Giants loss.

* ATLANTA--Has clinched NFC West title and a first-round bye.

* DALLAS--Has clinched NFC East title.

* GREEN BAY--Has clinched playoff berth.

* MINNESOTA--Has clinched NFC Central title and home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.

* N.Y. Giants--Can clinch playoff berth with a win, a Tampa Bay loss and an Arizona loss.

* Tampa Bay--Can clinch playoff berth with a win and an Arizona loss.

* SAN FRANCISCO--Has clinched playoff berth.