Each NFL division’s most significant rivalry of all time
By John Buhler
AFC West: Kansas City Chiefs vs. Las Vegas Raiders
As with the New England Patriots’ rivalry with the New York Jets in the AFC East, the one between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Las Vegas Raiders in the AFC West has its roots in the AFL. Both franchises were well run from the jump in the 1960s, and that’s what aided in this rivalry getting started. Together, they won four of the 10 AFL championships in the league’s existence.
They represented the AFL in the first four Super Bowls. Both lost to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowls I and II, but the Chiefs prevailed over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV. While both teams are iconic brands in the league, very rarely since the 1960s have these rival clubs been good at the same time.
Kansas City had a rough go of it in the 1970s and 1980s. The Raiders won three Super Bowls in those two decades and were a consistently strong franchise heading into the 2000s. However, the Silver and Black have only made the AFC playoffs once since reaching Super Bowl XXXVII in 2002. Outside of the 2016 season and the mid-to-late 1990s, hostility has been this rivalry’s driver.
The disdain these two fanbases have measures up comparably to a massive Power 5 conference college football rivalry or something you’d see on the English Premier League pitch. They have met 121 times with Kansas City holding a 67-53-2 lead over the Raiders. While the Chiefs have had the upper hand for the better part of the 21st century, the Silver and Black won’t go away quietly.