Chiefs clinch playoff spot with 'ugly win' over Raiders - ESPN

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chiefs secured a playoff spot for the 10th straight season with their 19-17 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Friday, but to some of the players, this clinching didn't necessarily feel like the others.

The Chiefs had to go to the wire to outlast the 2-10 Raiders, with the game being decided when Kansas City recovered a Las Vegas fumble with 11 seconds remaining. The Chiefs then ran out the clock with one snap to secure another victory.

They are 11-1, but five of their wins were decided even later than this one. Those games weren't settled until the final snap.

«It's not perfect, and we've had a lot of games this year where we didn't play the way we wanted to play,'' Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie said. „The thing about a championship team is games like this where things aren't perfect. You're thankful that you won, but you know that you've set the standard. And when we have games like this and don't feel like we've played to the standard that we've set, it's always a little disappointing, a little frustrating.''

The Chiefs can clinch a ninth straight AFC West championship by beating the Los Angeles Chargers on Dec. 8 at Arrowhead Stadium. They padded their lead over the 9-2 Buffalo Bills for the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

They had many anxious moments in getting there. The Chiefs held what looked to be a comfortable 16-3 lead late in the third quarter.

The Raiders, who entered Friday having lost seven straight, put together back-to-back touchdown drives to take the lead. The Chiefs grabbed it back with a field goal, only to see the Raiders reach the edge of field goal range at the Kansas City 32-yard-line when they fumbled.

“When you clinch a playoff spot, that's your first goal, to get into the