Raiders vs Chiefs 2022 Week 18: Game preview and prediction
By Brad Weiss
The Las Vegas Raiders finish out their 2022 NFL season at home against Kansas City, and here is our official game preview and prediction.
In the final game for the Las Vegas Raiders for the next eight months, the Silver and Black will play host to the Kansas City Chiefs inside Allegiant Stadium. It has been a wild ride for the Raiders this season, as they have lost so many winnable games, and were finally eliminated from the playoffs last weekend.
Even there, they were still alive as they went to overtime, but a Jarrett Stidham interception under pressure proved to be the turning point. San Francisco returned the interception into field goal range, and Robbie Gould did the rest.
Now, they take on a Chiefs team in Week 18 looking to lock down the No. 1 seed in the AFC, so there is plenty still left to play for.
Raiders vs Chiefs 2022 Week 18 Preview
As we stated above, the Raiders have nothing to play for in terms of the playoff race, but they can still impact what goes on there. Kansas City remains one of the best teams in the AFC, but they are fighting for their first-round bye in the playoffs, so Las Vegas can throw a wrench into that with a stunning victory on Saturday.
The problem is, the Chiefs are playing at a very high level, and the Las Vegas defense really has no answer for the likes of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Sure, Las Vegas can put up points, and Stidham showed in Week 17 he can certainly run the offense, but a shootout is not what the Raiders want in this one.
Ball control and feeding Josh Jacobs will be the key, but will that be enough to keep the Chiefs offense at bay?
Raiders vs Chiefs 2022 Week 18 Prediction
I like the Chiefs a lot in this one, and I believe this could get out of hand very early on. Mahomes runs this Chiefs offense with such precision, and while the Las Vegas defense has been better as of late, there is not enough talent up front, or in the secondary to stop this Chiefs attack for four quarters.
Stidham should keep the Raiders in this one through the first half, but the second-half woes will come back to haunt Las Vegas once again. In the end, Mahomes and the Chiefs score a late touchdown to make this look like a bigger blowout than it actually will be.
Final Score: Chiefs 34, Raiders 21