Kansas City @ Oakland preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 15, 2013 ) Kansas City 56, Oakland 31

The Kansas City Chiefs have quietly emerged as a legitimate contender in the AFC, but a loss Thursday night would undo a lot of their current momentum. Winners of five straight games to surge into a first-place tie in the AFC West, the Chiefs hope to keep their hot run going when they visit the Oakland Raiders, who have not won in more than a year. The Raiders are the NFL's only winless team and have dropped 16 straight contests dating back to Nov. 17, 2013, against Houston.

“We’re not giving up. There’s no quit in this team, and that counts for something," said Oakland center Stefen Wisniewski, via the San Francisco Chronicle. "We’re going to keep fighting until the end. I do think that we have a high-character team - a lot of good pros that are going to keep working and keep fighting no matter what the record is.” The Raiders set a season low for points in last week's 13-6 loss at San Diego, one week after setting a season high for points allowed in a 41-7 setback versus Denver. Kansas City's season, of course, is heading in the other direction as the team has not lost since its bye week and made a nice statement with a 24-20 win over Seattle last weekend.

TV: 8:25 p.m. ET, NFL Network. LINE: Chiefs -7. O/U: 42.5

ABOUT THE CHIEFS (7-3): Alex Smith's history against Oakland is virtually spotless with a 4-0 record and a 10-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio in those games. Jamaal Charles is coming off a terrific performance against Seattle - 159 rushing yards and two touchdowns - and was even better the last time he faced the Raiders, as he became the first player in NFL history to catch four TD passes and run for a score in a single game. One of the keys to Kansas City's success has been stopping the pass, as no team in the NFL has given up fewer yards through the air this season than the Chiefs' average mark of 201.8 yards.

ABOUT THE RAIDERS (0-10): Oakland is starting a rookie quarterback in Derek Carr, but the bigger issue at the moment is a rushing attack that ranks last in the NFL at 63 yards per game. Latavius Murray, a sixth-round pick in 2013, gave the Raiders' rushing attack a spark last week with 43 yards on four carries and could see more playing time Thursday, particularly with Darren McFadden running 28 times for 55 yards over his last three outings. One bright spot for Oakland has been the play of 38-year-old Charles Woodson, who made 14 tackles - 11 solo - against San Diego and leads the team with 74 tackles and two interceptions.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Kansas City WR Dwayne Bowe needs 90 receiving yards to become just the third player in franchise history to reach 7,000 for his career.

2. This game has "trap" potential for the Chiefs, who have two huge games coming up - versus Denver and at Arizona.

3. With another loss, the Raiders would match the 2008-09 St. Louis Rams with 17 straight defeats. Those Rams teams posted the second-longest losing streak of the last 30 years - a mark only behind the Detroit Lions, who dropped 19 in a row from 2007-09.

PREDICTION: Chiefs 23, Raiders 19