October 4, 2026 - 5:11 pm

How the Las Vegas Raiders performed in a 30-27 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday:

Kirk Cousins battled all day and came through more often than not.

The offense just ran out of time.

Cousins took a lot of hits from a ferocious Chiefs defense and kept popping back up and more plays. It was a valiant effort.

He threw for 365 yards and two touchdowns as both tight ends Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer exceeded 80 yards.

The Raiders just need to find some balance by establishing the run at some point.

The Raiders surrendered a ton of yards and the scoreboard showed 30 points, but it was a gutty effort for most of the day.

And they came up with a three-and-out after the 2-minute warning to give the offense one last chance.

Jeremy Chinn earlier made a huge open field tackle on Noah Gray short of a first down to get the Raiders the ball back trailing 17-16 with 9:36 left and the Raiders turned the ensuing possession into a go-ahead field goal.

The phenomenal run of forcing turnovers also ran out. It turns out Patrick Mahomes is pretty good.

The Raiders once again fumbled away a kickoff return.

This time it cost them dearly.

After the Chiefs took the lead with 3:21 remaining, Dareke Young tried to do too much with the return and had the ball punched out. Kansas City scored again on the next play to essentially seal the victory.

Those things just can’t happen against good competition.

Neither can first-down conversions on fake punts by the opposition and surrendering long punt returns.

Special teams played a big role in the Raiders starting 3-0. They were also a factor in the first loss.

Dylan Laube did have a 53-yard kickoff return to set up a field goal, but he allowed a punt to bounce behind him and get downed at the 1 with 1:16 remaining.

Matt Gay’s dropkick onside attempt was creative, but ultimately unsuccessful.

Klint Kubiak will undoubtedly catch some heat for taking three points off the board after a penalty to have his offense try to pick up a fourth-and-2 in the third quarter.

That, however, was a very defensible move.

The decision to kick a field goal on a fourth-and-1 to take the lead in the fourth quarter was far more questionable. It became an even worse decision when the Raiders elected to kick the ball out of the end zone for a touchback that came out to the 35-yard line and led to the go-ahead score for the Chiefs.

Kubiak boldly declared his team was going to win the game during a halftime interview and coached with that aggression. Until the game was really on the line.

He should be credited for having his team prepared and fighting right to the end. This was a game for first place, however. The Raiders believe they are beyond moral victories.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.