Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders not a rivalry

The final stretch run for the Kansas City Chiefs begins with a trip to Oakland to take on an atrocious Oakland Raiders team. Can the Chiefs avoid the let down?

Long talked about as one of the top rivalries in the NFL, what once brought the likes of Len Dawson, Ken Stabler, Otis Taylor and Ted Hendricks has now been reduced to teams facing off headed hard and fast in opposite directions. That is the Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders, of course, who face off in week 13 at the Black Hole.

While the 9-2 Chiefs look to continue their march toward a playoff bye and home field advantage, the 2-9 Raiders continue their presence as the punchline to the Jon Gruden joke.

Over the years, the Kansas City Chiefs have had their toe stubbing in Oakland. Their Thursday night loss in 2014 that gave the Raiders their first win of that season (they had been 0-10 previously).

Last year, the Chiefs and Raiders were matched in an epic game of ‘Tony Romo knows where to go with the ball’ in which the announcer was calling, prior to the snap, where the ball was going. Sure enough, it did.

Add in the hundred or so penalties called on the Chiefs at the end, especially in the end zone, and the Raiders were able to come away with the victory. It certainly didn’t help the Chiefs were on a short week after playing the Steelers.

Those are the only two times since being hired in 2013 the Chiefs under Andy Reid have been defeated by the Raiders. All of the other times have, for the most part, been blowouts.

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Obviously, the Chiefs need to avoid losing this game. That is beyond obvious. They also need to come out of the game and avoid injuries.

Nothing would be worse than to lose a vital contributor for a length of time stemming from an injury in a game against the hapless Raiders. It’s impossible (to a degree) to control though.

A storied rivalry for decades has fallen off recently and certainly appears to be developing into nothing more than simply a team the Chiefs play multiple times a season. The Raiders have been bad and have now become incompetent as an organization as a whole.

In the past ten games, the Chiefs have only fallen twice. It’s hard to be a rival when one side completely dominates the other. Chiefs fans have begun to revel in the misfortune of the Raiders more than they fear and concern themselves with what happens on the field.

Also, will this be the last time the Chiefs play in Oakland? It’s a distinct possibility as the Raiders lease with Oakland expires after this season, but their new stadium in Las Vegas will not be ready until the 2020 season.

Part of a rivalry is the fan base. Chiefs fans need no explanation about their commitment. Will Raiders fans in Las Vegas make their new stadium, whatever it’s called, a home field worthy of defending? Obviously, only time will tell.

Rivalry? No. The Raiders will need to pick up their game and win some games before we can consider the Chiefs and Raiders a rivalry again.

Until that point, Chiefs fans can look at the Steelers, Patriots, and perhaps the Broncos as teams they will consider a rival. Teams have to play for something to be considered a rival.

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