KC wins despite no Hunt

OAKLAND, Calif. — Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs still had plenty of firepower on offense even without star running back Kareem Hunt.

Mahomes threw four touchdown passes Sunday to join Peyton Manning and Tom Brady as the only quarterbacks to reach the 40 TD mark through 12 games, sending the Chiefs to a 40-33 victory over the Oakland Raiders in the first game since releasing Hunt.

“The mindset of this team is whenever you get your opportunity, you make the most of it,” Mahomes said. “I think every single game someone else steps up. We kept our mind on that and just playing football, a game we love.”

The Chiefs (10-2) cut ties with Hunt after a monthsold video surfaced on TMZ on Friday, showing him shoving and kicking a woman. No charges have been filed in the case from February, but the Chiefs let Hunt go because he misled them about the incident.

Spencer Ware replaced Hunt as starter and scored on a direct snap on fourthand-goal from the 1 in the third quarter.

“That’s my brother,” Ware said about Hunt. “It’s a tough situation. But like I said, the men in this circle, the men in our locker room, the organization, Chiefs kingdom — we got one goal — to win the Super

Bowl. We got to stay distraction-free. I don’t have anything else to say about that.”

Mahomes did most of the rest of the damage against the Raiders (2-10) with his arm.

He connected on two short touchdown passes to Travis Kelce in the first half, then found another tight end, Demetrius Harris (Jacksonville), on a 13-yard pass late in the third quarter one play after an apparent TD to Kelce was called off by a replay review.

“Man, he ticked me off today,” Raiders Coach Jon Gruden said. “It’s a credit to the guy. He made a third-and-15 play that was right on our sideline. I was outside myself I was so upset some of the plays he made today.”

Mahomes finished 23 for 38 for 295 yards and engineered a late TD drive capped by a 2-yard pass to Chris Conley after Oakland cut the deficit to three.

Oakland added a late field goal, but the Chiefs recovered the onside kick to seal the victory.