KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A close game at halftime disintegrated into a Kansas City Chiefs 31-13 rout of the Oakland Raiders on Sunday afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Chiefs (8-6) held a 10-6 lead early in the third quarter, but then scored three touchdowns with quarterback Alex Smith throwing a pair, including a 70-yarder to running back Knile Davis. Meanwhile, the Chiefs defense stepped up, keeping the Raiders bottled up in their own end of the field for most of the game.

The victory ended Kansas City’s three-game losing streak and kept alive its hopes of making the field for the AFC playoffs. The Raiders (2-12) are in contention for the first selection in the 2015 draft.

Smith threw for 297 yards, completing passes to 10 different receivers, including the third-quarter scoring tosses of 20 yards to tight end Travis Kelce and 70 yards to Davis. Under intense pressure all afternoon, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr threw 56 passes, completing 27, but only two went for more than 20 yards and he was sacked four times.

The only Raiders touchdown came in the last minute of the game when Carr connected with wide receiver James Jones for a 1-yard touchdown pass.

The only touchdown of the half came from the Kansas City’s special teams, as rookie returner De’Anthony Thomas caught a punt and ran 81 yards for a touchdown without a single Oakland player touching him. It was the first return touchdown of Thomas’ career and the second return score on special teams for the Chiefs this season.

Santos’ field goal later gave the Chiefs a 10-0 lead, before the Raiders got on the board with the final play of the first half, when kicker Sebastian Janikowski connected on a 53-yard field goal that capped a 10-play, 45-yard drive by the Oakland offense that used just 59 seconds on the clock.

Early in the second half, Kelce fumbled the ball into the air where it was grabbed by Oakland defensive lineman C.J. Wilson and returned 21 yards to the Chiefs 15-yard line. Kansas City’s defense held, and Janikowski made a 33-yard field goal to pull the Raiders within four points.

But the Chiefs came right back and finally produced an offensive touchdown, traveling 70 yards on nine plays before Davis scored on a 3-yard run for the 17-6 lead. Kansas City was helped by two Oakland penalties, including a 15-yard roughing the passer call against defensive end Justin Tuck.

Kansas City pushed its lead to 24-6 after Carr fumbled the snap and Chiefs outside linebacker Frank Zombo recovered the ball. Two plays later, Smith connected with Kelce on a 20-yard touchdown pass and run where the big tight end broke two tackles to reach the end zone.

NOTES: Chiefs OLB Justin Houston had a first-half sack, giving him 17 on the season. He entered the game as the NFL sack leader. … Chiefs rookie K Cairo Santos saw his streak of consecutive field goals made end at 14 when he missed a 44-yard kick in the first half. … The Chiefs made a change in their starting lineup at left guard, as a struggling G Mike McGlynn was replaced by G Jeff Linkenbach. McGlynn had started the first 13 games of the season. … The Raiders were without OLB Sio Moore, one of their more productive players. He was inactive because of a hip injury. … Oakland lost DL C.J. Wilson in the third quarter with ankle and knee injuries.