Chiefs vs. Raiders: Score and Twitter Reaction for Thursday Night Football

Riding a strong—albeit brief—performance from Latavius Murray and relying on a little Thursday-night magic, the Oakland Raiders are winless no more. They moved to 1-10 following a 24-20 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs at O.co Coliseum.

The Raiders did their best to try to throw the game away on the Chiefs' final drive, at one point getting penalized three times on the same play and nearly picking up an offside penalty because two players were still celebrating while Kansas City was lined up offensively.

It summed up a mostly listless second half for Oakland.

The Raiders held a 17-3 lead in the third quarter and remained up seven points, 17-10, going into the fourth, but they ran out of steam.

The Chiefs tied the game at 17-17 with 12:20 to play following a 30-yard touchdown reception from Jamaal Charles, who's no stranger to victimizing the Raiders defense, per NFL on ESPN:

Cairo Santos handed Kansas City a slim 20-17 lead a little over three minutes later with a 25-yard field goal. It's the 13th made field goal in a row for Santos, per Herbie Teope of ChiefsDigest.com:

But just when all hope was lost, Derek Carr engineered the most important scoring drive of his young pro career, moving the Raiders 80 yards down the field in 17 plays for the go-ahead touchdown. A nine-yard TD pass to James Jones capped it off.

Carr couldn't contain his excitement, as illustrated by NFL on CBS:

Carr finished 18-of-35 for 174 yards and a touchdown. Murray was the star despite missing the entire second half after suffering a concussion.

He went for 112 yards and two touchdowns on the ground on just four carries.

On the other side, Alex Smith threw for 234 yards and two touchdowns, while Charles had 122 total yards and a touchdown. Many Chiefs fans will likely wonder why Charles only carried the ball 19 times despite averaging 4.2 yards a carry.

That's one of many questions surrounding Kansas City following this loss.

For the Raiders, the victory is interim head coach Tony Sparano's just reward. Before the game, a few players spoke about the positive impact he's had on the team, per Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle:

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"He is up close and personal and blunt," defensive end Justin Tuck said. "He treats like you a man. I like his coaching style. ... He is honest. There is no B.S. with Coach Sparano."

Added linebacker Sio Moore: "Coach Sparano is a motivator. He’s direct and he’s precise."

Sparano says that a big part of every coach’s job is motivating his players. Though the Raiders might be 0-6 under Sparano, they have fought hard against all six winning teams. (In the one blowout loss, Oakland led Denver late in the first half before the wheels came off.)

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Sooner or later, luck was bound to bounce Oakland's way, and that's what happened Thursday night.

The Raiders couldn't have envisioned a better start to the game, with Murray spearheading Oakland's 14-0 lead with an unexpected breakout performance.

The first of his touchdown scampers came with 6:33 left in the first quarter from 11 yards out after a productive eight-play, 60-yard drive that ate 3:29 off the clock.

The 23-year-old doubled Oakland's advantage in the second quarter, finding daylight on a 90-yard TD burst. The Chiefs defense left a gaping hole through the middle of the defensive line, and once Murray reached the second level, he was gone, via the NFL:

According to ESPN Stats & Info, it's the fourth-longest run in Raiders history:

Aside from Murray, the Raiders couldn't find any sort of spark offensively. They had the two long drives that resulted in touchdowns, but their other four first-half possessions went a combined 40 yards.

Luckily for Oakland, the Chiefs didn't fare much better, with their first five drives all ending in punts. Much of the consternation among Kansas City fans focused on head coach Andy Reid's seeming unwillingness to fully unleash Charles on the Raiders defense.

ESPN's Jason Whitlock wasn't afraid to let Reid have it:

The Chiefs' second-quarter scoring drive only further frustrated the K.C. faithful.

Oakland return man Denarius Moore muffed a punt on his own 11-yard line, and Frank Zombo recovered for Kansas City. Chris Burke of Sports Illustrated felt the turnover was a cruel twist of fate for the Raiders given how well they played prior to that:

The Chiefs were in a great position to halve the deficit, but following a six-yard pass to Charles and two incompletions, they had to settle for a 24-yard field goal from Santos and entered the locker room at halftime down, 14-3.

If the Raiders were to hold on in the second half, they would have to do so without their most explosive weapon. Oakland announced in the third quarter that Murray wouldn't return after being evaluated for a concussion:

Sebastian Janikowski tacked on a 40-yard field goal in the third quarter to make it a 14-point game again, but without Murray to provide that game-breaking play, the Raiders struggled to move the ball, which opened the door for the Chiefs to awaken from their first-half slumber.

Janikowski's field goal must've been the jolt Kansas City needed, because it was a different team from that moment on. Its first three drives immediately following resulted in points.

Anthony Fasano got the Chiefs to within one score after a 19-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter. That was the beginning of Kansas City's comeback, and it looked very much like Oakland was doomed to an 11th straight defeat this year.

Then, Carr came to the rescue. He wasn't great on the night, but he was good enough in the right spots.

Two-thirds of the way through the season, the Raiders have little else but pride to play for over the final five games. Whatever happens from here on out can serve as reason to be optimistic about 2015 and beyond.

The 7-4 Chiefs threw away an opportunity to take sole possession of first in the AFC West in defeat. The Denver Broncos (7-3) are now a half-game up in the division with the opportunity to make it a full-game lead if they beat the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.