The Chiefs and Raiders have spent more than six decades beating on each other, but Sunday in Las Vegas brings something neither franchise has ever seen before: both teams walking in at 3-0.
That alone gives this meeting at Allegiant Stadium a different kind of edge. Kansas City and Las Vegas have crossed paths 134 times since the AFL was born in 1960, and the rivalry traces all the way back to the day they first met, Oct. 9, 1960, when they were still the Dallas Texans and the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders won that one 20-19 at the Cotton Bowl after a 20-point third quarter turned the game on its head and helped light a fuse that’s still burning.
The old AFL years were split right down the middle. Over those 10 seasons, the teams met 22 times and each won 11.
They went 10-10 in regular-season games, and each grabbed one postseason victory: Oakland’s 41-6 rout in the 1968 divisional playoffs and Kansas City’s 17-7 win in the 1969 AFL championship game. That Chiefs victory sent Kansas City to Super Bowl IV, where it beat the Minnesota Vikings 23-7 in the final game before the AFL-NFL merger became official.
The NFL years have brought plenty more fireworks. Kansas City has held the upper hand overall as an NFL franchise, going 65-45-2 against the Raiders, including a 10-6 win in their only NFL playoff matchup, the 1991 Wild Card game. Add everything together since 1960, and the Chiefs still own the series 76-56-2.
But for all of that history, this is the first time the matchup has come with both teams undefeated.
Kansas City got there with a stop-start 24-10 road win over the winless Miami Dolphins on Sunday. Las Vegas answered with 13 unanswered fourth-quarter points in a 35-27 road victory over the New Orleans Saints.
The Chiefs’ 3-0 start isn’t exactly a shock. Plenty expected a bounce-back after their 6-11 season in 2025, especially with quarterback Patrick Mahomes back from injury and Super Bowl LX MVP Kenneth Walker III added to the backfield. That combination has helped Kansas City look more balanced on offense than it has in years, even through the stretch when the Chiefs were stacking up three Super Bowl titles in five seasons from 2019-23.
The Raiders, though, are the bigger early-season surprise. After going 3-14 in 2025 and landing 31st in one preseason ranking, they were not the kind of team most people had pegged for a 3-0 start.
Kirk Cousins has been sharp and efficient, and some lesser-known contributors have helped out alongside Ashton Jeanty and Brock Bowers. But the real jolt has come on defense.
That group, with Maxx Crosby as its biggest name, has piled up 10 forced fumbles and nine takeaways through three weeks. Las Vegas is fourth in sacks with 10, 10th in points allowed with 54, and seventh in opponent passer rating at 82.2.
Crosby, who has lost 11 of the 13 games he has played against the Chiefs, made sure nobody in the Raiders locker room got too comfortable after the win in New Orleans.
"It's a great win, but we've got a (expletive) great team coming into town.," he said as reported by Matt Conner of Arrowhead Addict. "We already know what it is, bro.
It's the (expletive) Kansas City Chiefs. Enjoy this tonight.
Take care of your bodies, and we're on a warpath to get what we want."
In Other News...
Brittany Mahomes Had A Different Focus After Chiefs Controversy
The Chiefs left Sunday night with another win, improving to 3-0 after beating the Dolphins 24-10 in a game that had no shortage of talking points. Miami had plenty to gripe about after a handful of controversial penalties went against the visitors, including a roughing-the-passer call on pass rusher Chop Robinson, and the officiating chatter quickly became part of the postgame conversation around Kansas City.
Brittany Mahomes took a different tack on social media, focusing on the crowd and the atmosphere rather than the penalty debate. It fit the mood inside Arrowhead, where the Chiefs keep finding ways to stack wins even as outside noise follows them from week to week. [Read more 🡒]
Brittany Mahomes Just Weighed In On The Chiefs Hottest Sunday Debate
The Chiefs 24-10 win over the Dolphins on Sunday pushed Kansas City to 3-0, but the postgame chatter quickly shifted away from the score and toward the flags. Miami took issue with several penalties, including a roughing-the-passer call against pass rusher Chop Robinson, and the officiating debate gave the victory an immediate second life online.
Brittany Mahomes stepped into the conversation on social media, though not by taking on the controversy head-on. Instead, Patrick Mahomes wife chose to highlight the Chiefs crowd, a reminder that even in a game with plenty of frustration on the other sideline, the home support at Arrowhead still tends to get the last word. [Read more 🡒]
Chiefs Fans Finally Have Ammo In The Refs Debate
The latest round of officiating debate has given Chiefs fans something they have not had much of in recent seasons: a data-backed argument. After a roughing-the-passer call went against the Dolphins and a pass-interference decision helped the Broncos, the conversation around NFL penalties widened again, and the numbers point to Kansas City as one of the teams that has not exactly been living on the favorable side of the ledger.
Paul Foellers FORCE ranking, which measures how teams fare in penalty luck, places the Chiefs among the least benefited clubs in the league. It is the kind of finding that does not settle every argument about officiating, but it does give Kansas City supporters a little more ammunition the next time the flag debate flares up, especially with the Chargers sitting at the top of the impact chart. [Read more 🡒]