KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
—
Kingsley Suamataia hurled a Las Vegas defender only to land out of bounds as Kansas City’s 2025 season came to a frantic but merciful end.
Playing perhaps his final NFL game, tight end Travis Kelce finished with only three catches for 12 yards, but that was enough for two more NFL records as the Chiefs wrapped up an ugly season with an ugly, albeit thrilling, loss Sunday against the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Behind two inexperienced backup quarterbacks, Kansas City (6-11) only managed four field goals, including Harrison Butker’s go-ahead 41-yard boot with 1:01 remaining.
Las Vegas (3-14) matched those field goals, including Daniel Carlson’s career-long 60-yard bomb with 8 seconds remaining, but added a fourth-quarter sack of Shane Buechele for the game-deciding points in a 14-12 Raiders win.
“This season didn’t go as planned, a lot of valuable lessons learned,” defensive tackle Chris Jones, who finished with two sacks, said. "... It was a tough year for us as a team and so many areas we can improve on, individually and as a group."
It was the Chiefs’ ninth one-score loss of the season.
After going 11-0 in one-score games last season en route to a third straight Super Bowl, Kansas City, which finished the season with a six-game losing streak, went 1-9 in one-score games this season and missed the playoffs after 10 straight appearances.
“Nobody wants a season like this,” coach Andy Reid said. “It’s not what we strive for and work hard for, but there are obstacles that come into play and you’ve got to work through those. There’s a learning curve here that you can set with some of the experiences we had, for all of us, and then never do it again.”
If there’s a silver lining, the loss gives Kansas City the No. 9 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
The last time the Chiefs picked in the top 10 was 2017, when the franchise moved up to draft Patrick Mahomes and forever changed the trajectory of the franchise — for those across Chiefs Kingdom in need of a ray of hope.
CONNER PICKS OFF PICKETT
Chamarri Conner ended the Raiders’ first drive with his first interception of the season.
Playing a shallow zone, Conner read Kenny Pickett’s eyes and jumped Jack Bech’s route, undercutting the rookie for a contested pick.
The third-year defensive back, who entered the NFL as the Chiefs’ fourth-round pick in 2023, had one interception as a rookie and two last season.
He started 16 games combined during his first two years before starting every game in 2025, finishing with career-highs for tackles (117), forced fumbles (two), sacks (two), quarterback hits (five) and tying his career-high with four tackles for a loss.
Conner finished the season second for Kansas City’s defense in tackles behind only linebacker Nick Bolton (154).
JONES MOVES UP SACKS LIST
Defensive tackle Chris Jones ended Las Vegas’ second drive with his sixth sack of the season, which tied him with George Karlaftis for the team lead.
Jones initially encountered a double team, but brushed the Raiders’ guard aside after the tackle peeled off to pick up Aston Gillotte rushing around the edge.
Pickett tried to move up in the pocket, but couldn’t escape Jones, who entered the game tied with Neil Smith for third place in career sacks in franchise history behind only Derrick Thomas (126.5) and Tamba Hali (89.5).
The 6-yard loss forced a punt from the Raiders’ 2-yard line, which set up a short field that led to the game’s first points — a 36-yard Harrison Butker field goal with 4:58 left in the first quarter.
Jones added another sack in the fourth quarter, giving him 17 career games with two or more sacks.
He now stands alone in third place among the Chiefs’ all-time sacks leaders with 87 1/2. He also passed Willie McGinest (86.0) and Justin Smith (87.0), a Jefferson City native and former Mizzou great, to move into a tie for 65th in NFL history with Leonard Little (87.5).
WILLIAMS FINISHES ROOKIE SEASON STRONG
The Raiders finally managed a first down on their third drive, but rookie cornerback Nohl Williams blitzed unmolested off the edge and clobbered Pickett for an 8-yard loss that short-circuited the drive the next play.
It was Williams’ first career sack — heck, it was his first career QB hit — and led to another punt.
“I had got the same play in practice and I messed up, actually,” Williams said. “I didn’t trigger.”
That wasn't an issue Sunday.
After starting only once in his first 13 career games, Williams, a third-round pick last spring from the University of California-Berkeley, started his fourth straight game for the Chiefs’ defense.
Williams, a core special teams player as well, finished with six tackles and two passes defended in the game.
“I knew they were going to test me, throwing the ball-wise,” Williams said. “Last week, I had a couple opportunities, but this week I was more sticky in coverage.”
He ends the season with 48 tackles, including four for a loss and 27 in his five starts, and seven passes defended.
With Jaylen Watson among the Chiefs' free agents, Williams figures to play an even more important role next season.
“The offseason is all about mastering the playbook for me and building up my body, making sure I’m more flexible, more agile, faster,” Williams said.
ROOKIE RB SHINES
Fellow rookie Brashard Smith, a seventh-round running back from Southern Methodist, capped the season with his best performance.
Smith totaled 12 carries for a career-high 56 yards, adding two catches for 2 yards and handling punt-return duties. He returned four for 13 yards, including an 11-yard return.
“I thought he did a nice job for us,” Reid said. “... He’ll get stronger this offseason and that’s the biggest thing right now.”
His performance was more impressive given the passing-game struggles and makeshift offensive line, which was without Trey Smith and its top three tackles.
Smith only had more than four carries in a game one other time — racking up 14 carries for 39 yards in the first meeting with Las Vegas, a 31-0 shutout in mid-October at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
BUECHELE TAKES OVER AT HALFTIME
After the Chiefs’ offense only managed a field goal in the first half, Shane Beuchele took over at quarterback for the second half.
Things (probably) got better.
After a turnover on downs to open the second half, one of two the defense managed in the game — including a fake-punt stop in the first half and Bolton’s obliteration of Ashton Jeanty on an off-tackle run to the left — Buechele led a 12-play drive that covered 50 yards and led to Butker’s game-tying 40-yard field goal.
But Kansas City’s next two drives were three-and-outs before Buechele got smashed for a 10-yard loss in the end zone on third down the next drive.
It worked out in the Chiefs’ favor when Ethan Downs forced a Dylan Laube fumble, which Jack Cochrane recovered, on the ensuing free kick.
The offense actually lost eight yards on the ensuing drive, but Butker connected on a 47-yard field goal before Jones’ second sack forced a Raiders punt.
Buechele, who finished 7 of 14 for 88 yards and was sacked five times, opened the next drive with a 51-yard bomb to Hollywood Brown that set up Butker’s go-ahead field goal, only for special teams and the defense to cough up the lead again.
Chris Oladokun was 11 of 17 for 58 yards and lost two fumbles while getting sacked three times in the first half, though that was strong work compared with Las Vegas’ QB platoon of Pickett and Aidan O’Connell.
Pickett finished 1 of 4 for 3 yards with an interception and was sacked twice before O’Connell entered as part of a pre-planned rotation. He went 2 of 7 for 17 yards.
But Oladokun’s turnovers, which led to Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson’s 32- and 23-yard field goals for a 6-3 halftime lead, were a glaring issue.
He went 11 of 16 for 111 yards during a Dec. 21 loss in Tennessee after Gardner Minshew suffered a season-ending knee injury and went 13 of 22 for 66 yards with a touchdown in a Christmas night loss to Denver in his first career NFL start.
Oladokun has now fumbled at least once in each of his four career games, but the fumbles in Las Vegas were the first of his five career fumbles that he lost.
O’Connell remained in the game the entire second half, finishing 10 of 22 for 102 yards.
OLDEST COACHING MATCHUP EVER
Pete Carroll, 74, and Andy Reid, 67, broke the NFL record for combined age of the head coaches.
The 141 years of wisdom broke the NFL record set five years ago when Carroll, then with Seattle, squared off against Bill Belichick.
Carroll (69) and Belichick (68) were a combined 137 years old in that game.
—
