The Kansas City Chiefs showed the league what they can do with a commanding 31-0 shutout of divisional rivals Las Vegas Raiders. The offense and defense worked in perfect harmony to completely shut down Las Vegas and get the well-earned victory.

The Chiefs now sit above .500 for the first time all season at 4-3, feeling good as they look to take on another tough part of their schedule.

First Half

The Chiefs finally had all of their guys back, thanks to the return of Rashee Rice after spending over a year off the field due to injury and a suspension. It was the first time that receivers Hollywood Brown, Xavier Worthy and Rice were all playing together on the same field in a regular season game ever.

The Chiefs had three total drives in the first half and scored a touchdown on all three, beginning this trifecta with a 92-yard touchdown drive on their first possession that resulted in an early 7-0 lead that would continue to be built upon throughout the day.

After forcing a second punt in the first quarter, Patrick Mahomes and the offense would go on another long drive that took them 84 yards down the field into the endzone in 17 plays, more than half the amount of the 30 total offensive plays that the Raiders would have all day.

But things weren’t done yet, as after forcing a three-and-out, the offense would go on a 94-yard drive in 16 plays to take a 21-0 lead into the half. At just the half, Mahomes had 206 passing yards and 3 TD. Rice was also already off and running with six receptions for 36 yards and two touchdowns.

Second Half

The second didn’t get much better for Las Vegas, as the offense took the third quarter opening drive into the endzone to take a 28-point lead with nine minutes left in the third quarter. After another three-and-out that saw Las Vegas gain -3 total yards, the Chiefs would score once again, however, just with a field goal this time, to take a 31-0 lead with around two and a half minutes to go in the third quarter.

The Raiders would make one final try at keeping some pride, but would turn the ball over on downs on a four-play drive that gave the Chiefs the ball at the Las Vegas 41-yard line. Finally, the Chiefs began to show mercy after the starting offense went 5-for-5, scoring on all of their drives, putting in backup quarterback Gardner Minshew and a number of other backups. The game fizzled out from there before the game mercifully concluded in a shutout for the Chiefs, their first regular-season shutout since 2011.

Key Statistics

This game was simply dominated in pretty much every way imaginable, as the Chiefs gained 30 first downs and the starters scored on all of their drives before beginning to come out in the third quarter. Meanwhile, the Raiders were able to acquire just three total first downs all day and 95 total yards, along with zero points.

Mahomes, in just three quarters of work, amassed 286 yards on 26/35 passing, along with three touchdowns and a passer rating of 126.6. He also gained 28 yards on four carries, but was not the leading rusher as he has been numerous times so far this year.

The rushing game totaled a very good 152 yards, but on an average of just 3.7 yards per carry, thankfully, this did not matter thanks to the incredibly successful passing game that saw six different receivers with 35+ receiving yards.

Leading the way for the receivers was Travis Kelce for the fourth time this season, an encouraging sight for Chiefs fans who have had to hear a lot about Kelce and his recent struggles. Kelce ended the day with three receptions for 54 yards; however, the real star of the show appeared to be Rice, who ended his day with seven receptions for 42 yards and two touchdowns.

On the defensive side, no one had all that impressive of stats because the unit played that well as a whole. As previously mentioned, the Raiders got just 30 total offensive snaps on the day and were constantly stifled both on the ground and through the air by the Kansas City defense.

The Outlook

This team appears to really be hitting its stride right now, which is very important as the team looks to take on another difficult part of its schedule that will be kicked off by a Monday Night Football matchup with the Washington Commanders.

If the team continues to play mistake-free ball that sees the offense and defense play off of each other’s great play, then they could look to really send waves throughout the league once again after having another iffy start to the season.

Overall, the future looks bright for Kansas City as they finally have all of their stars back on the field at the same time and playing with excellent chemistry and energy.