The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Oakland Raiders, 23-17, finishing the 2015 regular season with a franchise record 10 consecutive wins and an 11-5 record overall.
"I like this football team," Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said after the game. "They're a pretty humble crew. They don't get caught up in accolades or wins and all that stuff. They just go play. That's the way they practice. They practice just like the way they play. They go out and go a hundred miles an hour and they do it every day. Every team has got its own personality, but that's kind of this group. Humble group that work hard. They don't think anything is impossible. You love that about them."
With Week 17 over, the Chiefs enter the playoffs as the first Wild Card in the AFC.
Quarterback Alex Smith led the way for the Chiefs on Sunday, completing 14 of 24 passes for 156 yards passing, 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. He also had 61 yards rushing on 9 carries.
The Chiefs, for the third straight game, scored a touchdown on their first offensive drive. Smith hit wide receiver Jeremy Maclin for a 25-yard score. It was Maclin's 8th touchdown of the season.
After forcing the Raiders to punt on the ensuing possession, the Chiefs scored another touchdown on a second consecutive drive when running back Spencer Ware crossed the goal line for a 3-yard touchdown to make it 14-0.
The Chiefs led, 14-0, after one quarter of play.
The Raiders scored on their first drive of the second quarter when kicker Sebastian Janikowski hit a 29-yard field goal to make it 14-3.
Later in the quarter, Smith threw his second interception of the game into the hands of cornerback David Amerson, who returned it 24 yards for a touchdown.
"They got us," Reid said. "The five defenders settled under the second one there and his primary was on the other side, so he came back and tried to sneak it in there and they got us. Sometimes that happens."
It was 14-10 Chiefs at the half.
After exchanging punts to begin the third quarter, D.J. Alexander blocked a Raiders punt in the end zone for a safety and the Chiefs led, 16-10.
On the next possession, tight end Demetrius Harris scored the first touchdown of his career on a 15-yard pass from Alex Smith.
After three quarters, the Chiefs were up 23-10.
There was no more scoring until the game's final minutes. With just over 2 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, QB Derek Carr found WR Michael Crabtree for a 31-yard touchdown to cut the Chiefs lead to 23-17, but the Raiders could not recover the onside kick.
Oakland got the ball back with less than 2 minutes to go, but with no timeouts, the clock ran out and the Chiefs won the game.
The Chiefs will head to Houston next weekend for the first round of the NFL Playoffs. The date and time of the game will be announced by the NFL later this evening.
"it might be the same people [on the Texans], but we're probably different teams, and we've just got to prepare ourselves like we always do," Reid said. "We'll be fine. Make sure we go through the process, work on our fundamentals, techniques and scheme, make sure we master that and go."
