[duncan_idaho]

I keep coming back to this:

The Chiefs had 14 points, minimum, taken off the board by questionable officiating (hold call on Wylie on the 1st drive long TD pass to Hill; questionable PI on Kelce on CEH receiving TD, that ended up being a FG instead; non-PI on blatant interference at goal line that would have led to FG).

And those points changed the complexion of the game entirely. That should have been a 38-24 game at half time, with the Chiefs never trailing.

Mahomes' INT that set up the Raiders' final TD to go up 40-24 literally never would have happened (that was a 4th-down play, they would have just punted still leading 38-33).

Now, maybe the Raiders still go down and score a TD to go up 40-38 (or likely 39 or 41). Considering the Chiefs blitzed down the field to score their actual final TD, I have no doubt they would have scored the points necessary to win they would have had time.

Now, all the revisionist history said, the Raiders deserve credit for winning that game and for playing well in the second half on D, and especially for kicking butt up front against the Chiefs' OL.

But it took a lights-out performance from Oakland AND a favorable game from the zebras AND some severe OL injuries for the Raiders to win.

So color me not yet worried about the Raiders as a true rival or challenger to KC.