Raiders stage pregame huddle on Chiefs logo, promptly lose by 39 points
The Las Vegas Raiders entered Sunday's game at Arrowhead Stadium desperate for a win after dropping four of their previous five games.
What they needed to jack them up, someone thought, was a good, old-fashioned inspirational huddle at midfield — on top of the Kansas City Chiefs' logo.
Although it was far enough ahead of kickoff that stadium attendance was sparse, the crowd lustily booed at the logo-obscuring gesture.
Dig this! The #raiders met as a team after their pregame warmup at about the 25 yard line. Then proceeded to relocate their team huddle to midfield on top of the #chiefs logo. The stadium erupted in boos as the Raiders fired each other up. LFG!!! pic.twitter.com/6MQOVtQ5G0
— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) December 12, 2021
This is gonna be fun.
📺: #LVvsKC on CBS
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/ruB2YcCwf3— NFL (@NFL) December 12, 2021
It also wasn't received well by the Chiefs.
Patrick Mahomes on the Raiders’ standing on the Chiefs logo pregame: You don’t want people coming into your stadium and disrespecting what you’ve built.
— Sam McDowell (@SamMcDowell11) December 12, 2021
Once the game began, the Chiefs responded by staging a series of quick and frequent meetings in the Raiders' end zone.
Before the Raiders even sampled the sideline Gatorade, it was 7-0, Chiefs. Mike Hughes returned a fumble by Raiders running back Josh Jacobs for a touchdown a mere 17 seconds into the game.
And it didn't take long for the Chiefs to twist the knife deeper. They scored three more times in the game's next 20 minutes, making it 28-0 midway through the second quarter.
Have the Raiders reached midfield since pregame?
— Marco Marquez (@MarcoTaquito2) December 12, 2021
The answer to that was still no when the Chiefs drove 62 yards in the closing minutes of the first half to make it 35-nada. The Chiefs would coast to a 48-9 victory in which they dominated all three phases of the game.
That was the perfect in-game response to the Raiders' pregame demonstration.