​Patrick Mahomes warms up before the Chiefs’ win over the Raiders on Sunday. Photograph: Rick Scuteri/APThe rivalry between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Las Vegas Raiders goes back to the formation of the American Football League in 1960, when the Chiefs were the Dallas Texans, and the Raiders resided in Oakland. At no time in that rivalry had both teams faced each other with a record of 3-0 or better until Sunday’s game at Las Vegas’s Allegiant Stadium. An unbeaten record wasn’t entirely surprising for the Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes, but the Raiders? The team won only three games in the whole of last season, but this new Raiders team under Klint Kubiak presents all kinds of challenges for opponents.At first, it appeared that the Raiders might go on to their first 4-0 start to a season since 2002, when they made it all the way to the Super Bowl, where they were vivisected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their former head coach, Jon Gruden. Kubiak’s team held a 13-10 halftime lead on Sunday, and Kubiak told CBS’s Tracy Wolfson at the half that his team was going to win the game.Things looked promising the Raiders until running back Kenneth Walker’s two fourth-quarter touchdowns put the score at 30-19 in Kansas City’s favor, and as game as the Raiders were to stage a comeback, it didn’t quite happen. Kirk Cousins’ amazing 20-yard touchdown pass to tight end Brock Bowers with 1:46 left in the game, and Cousins’ successful two-point conversion to receiver Cody White, put the score at 30-27, and the Chiefs went three-and-out on their subsequent drive after an unsuccessful onside kick by the Raiders. But Chiefs punter Matt Araiza placed the ball perfectly at the Las Vegas one-yard line, and Chiefs safety Xavier Nwankpa’s interception of a Cousins pass with 10 seconds sealed the game.The Raiders may not have won the game, but they continue to win respect they haven’t earned in years. Kubiak brought all the smarts he showed as the Seattle Seahawks’ offensive coordinator last season, and defensive coordinator Rob Leonard has a bunch of lesser-known players (as well as edge demon Maxx Crosby) playing above their projected stations. And it doesn’t hurt that Cousins, at the age of 38, is playing some of the best football of his career.As for the 4-0 Chiefs, they are officially back to the top of the NFL after a disastrous 6-11 2025 season. Everybody who picked other teams to make the Super Bowl (and that includesjust about everybody) may want to check those opinions at the door. Mahomes isn’t the force who blew away opponents at his peak, but he has been careful with the ball this season. He only has two interceptions to go alongside his seven touchdown passes, and is still unflappable on third downs. Two of his main targets were injured in Sunday’s game – Rashee Rice left with a hamstring issue and Tyquan Thornton was carted off after suffering a dislocated ankle – but the offense has been boosted by the arrival of Wa