ALAMEDA - The last time the Kansas City Chiefs were in Oakland, they left with a 12-10 win over the Raiders on Oct. 21, 2007 and were in first place in the AFC West with a 4-3 record.
The Chiefs have won one game since.
Instead of finishing in contention for a playoff spot in 2007, the Chiefs finished tied with the Raiders for last place in the AFC West.
The Chiefs lone victory came Sept. 28 2008 over the Denver Broncos, who the Raiders just defeated.
After closing out the 2007 season with nine straight losses the Chiefs decided to do what many team won't admit they're doing - rebuild.
It's a different approach than the Raiders, who also finished 4-12, took.
The Raiders opted to spend a lot of money in the offseason (WR Javon Walker, S Gibril Wilson, CB DeAngelo Hall, re-signing DT Tommy Kelly) with the hope of a quick turnaround.
That approach has the Raiders at 3-8, two games ahead of the 1-10 Chiefs.
"It's been hard," said Kansas City coach Herm Edwards in a conference call Wednesday. "But when you decide to do what we've done, blow it up and start all over with all these young players, the thing you know is that you're building something and I see it. You see guys improving from the game at New England to right now."
It wasn't that long ago the Chiefs were a playoff team. Kansas City was a Wildcard team in 2006.
Bur realizing the roster couldn't go much further, the Chiefs dealt their best defensive player, defensive end Jared Allen, for multiple draft picks.
So besides running back Larry Johnson and tight end Tony Gonzalez, you'll probably need a program to figure out whom most of these Chiefs are.
"We haven't won enough games because you always want to win," Edwards said. But I think in the long haul this team is going to be competitive for a long time because we're so young. A lot of these rookies are playing and playing well."
*One of the most amazing stats headed into Sunday's game is the Chiefs having only six sacks as a team.
There are 19 players with more sacks than the Chiefs.
"We have gotten a lot of pressure, we just haven't gotten any sacks," Edwards said. "We haven't gotten a lot of sacks. When you lose a Jared Allen that hurts some. We have had some injury problems with some of our ends. And that hurts you, too."
Linebacker Derrick Johnson leads the Chiefs with 1.5 sacks.
*After scoring 31 points, the Raiders figure not to start another offensive drought against the Chiefs.
Kansas City has held only two opponents under 20 points this season.
The Chiefs allow 29.7 points a game and are last in total defense, allowing 406.3 yards a game.
--Jason Jones
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