Gannon Is Chief Reason They’re Not in Playoffs

Those 80,000 Kansas City Chief fans who cheered Rich Gannon before the game went home sadly aware of why they’ve always been so fond of him.

In his first game at Arrowhead Stadium since Kansas City management told him he was nothing but a backup, Gannon led the Oakland Raiders to a wild, 41-38 overtime victory Sunday that knocked his old team out of the playoffs.

“I’ve had a love affair with the fans over the years,” said Gannon, a popular backup for Steve Bono and Elvis Grbac from 1995-98 who signed as a free agent with Oakland this season.

Gannon was 25 for 47 for 324 yards and three touchdowns as the Raiders (8-8) won for the first time in 11 games at Arrowhead.

The Chiefs (9-7) knew Seattle had lost to the New York Jets and that a victory in the seesaw regular-season finale would have given them the AFC West championship. But the loss, sealed by Joe Nedney’s 33-yard field goal in overtime, knocked out of the playoffs. Seattle (9-7) is AFC West champion because the Seahawks beat the Chiefs twice.

“I tried to tell the young guys you shouldn’t ever forget this feeling because you don’t get chances to play in the playoffs that often,” said Glenn Parker, the Chiefs’ 10-year veteran tackle who played in four Super Bowls with Buffalo. “Your career is very, very short. Remember how bad this feels and vow to get better.”

Oakland came back from a 17-0 deficit in a game that had seven lead changes.

Nedney’s 38-yard field goal had tied the score at 38-38 with 45 seconds left. Then in the final seconds, Pete Stoyanovich missed a 44-yard attempt. Ironically, Stoyanovich made a 44-yard field goal in the final seconds to beat the Raiders on Nov. 28.

The Chiefs’ special teams made at least five major mistakes. The last one came when Jon Baker pushed the kickoff out of bounds to start the overtime, letting the Raiders begin at their 40. Gannon, who engineered a five-game winning streak for the Chiefs after taking over for the injured Elvis Grbac last season, then had completions to Rickey Dudley for 21 yards and Tim Brown for 23 to set up Nedney’s game-winner.