KC Chiefs: What we learned about the AFC West after Week 15

The KC Chiefs were one of two teams to win in the AFC West in Week 15.

Strangely enough, the Kansas City Chiefs were the only AFC West team to play their game on Sunday this week, as the Raiders and Chargers squared off on Thursday Night Football and the Broncos hosted the Bills on Saturday. Even still, we learned a lot about all four teams this weekend.

What did we learn about the Las Vegas Raiders?

Remember when the Raiders were a threat to steal the AFC West from the Super Bowl defending Chiefs? That was a real storyline after the Raiders took KC to the wire in Las Vegas back in Week 11.

Fast forward a month later and that’s not the case anymore, as the Raiders are now 7-7 on the year after a 30-27 overtime loss to the Chargers. The Raiders are 2-5 in their new Vegas digs and their playoff hopes are hanging on by a thread.

This was the first game without Paul Guenther as the defensive coordinator, as the Raiders fired him after their miserable loss to Indianapolis the week prior. The defense still struggled and needs to be the point of emphasis for the Raiders moving forward. Their offense is fine — even with Marcus Mariota quarterbacking the team — and if the Raiders can add a few more pieces on defense, they’ll be able to compete in the AFC.

What we learned about the Raiders is that they’re not a second half of the season kind of team under Jon Gruden. This is now the second straight season in which they sat with an impressive record and sputtered in the final month of action. Gruden is in year three of 10, so there’s room for him to fix this, but Raiders fans have to be a bit panicked about this now happening two years in a row.

Next up: The Raiders remain in Las Vegas to host the Wild Card Dolphins on Saturday night. This is a huge game for both teams.