OAKLAND – All that talk of being in contention for the AFC West title died down in the Raiders' locker room.

Losing at home to a team with only one win has a way of doing that.

One week after actually having a productive offense, the Raiders couldn't put together back-to-back wins for the first time this season.

The Raiders morphed back into the team the NFL is accustomed to seeing in a disheartening 20-13 loss to the hapless Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at Oakland Coliseum.

The Raiders' punchless offense that can't score in the red zone was back. So was the defense that couldn't get a stop on a key third down.

But even this loss had something no one expected.

With the score 3-3, Sebastian Janikowski lined up for a 43-yard field-goal attempt on fourth and 10 in the second quarter.

Interim head coach Tom Cable called for punter Shane Lechler to take the snap and flip the ball between his legs to Janikowski, who was supposed to outrun the Chiefs for a first down and more.

"You don't hear the kick, you hear the crowd, and I was like, 'Oh … shoot,' " said tight end Zach Miller, who was blocking on the play.

That's because the flip never reached Janikowski. It fell short to the turf, and Maurice Leggett scooped up the ball and ran 67 yards for a touchdown.

Cable wasn't sure if Janikowski, who does plenty of running when playing soccer in the offseason, would have even reached the first-down marker on a play he said the team has practiced for two years.

"Without seeing the film, I don't know," Cable said. "They were lined up the way they were supposed to be lined up. We just didn't handle it, the ballhandling."

It was one of three fumbles, two of them lost, for the Raiders (3-9), who couldn't muster much offense after a season-high 31 points last week in Denver.

The performance was especially sad considering the Chiefs have one of the worst defenses in the NFL, allowing 29.7 points a game.

The 13 points allowed represented a season best for Kansas City (2-10), which gave up 54 points to Buffalo last week.

The Raiders' lone touchdown, in the third quarter, was set up by Chris Johnson's interception and 44-yard return to the 1-yard line. Justin Fargas scored his first rushing touchdown of the season on the next play.

Oakland threatened only one other time, reaching the 7-yard line in the first quarter. The drive ended with a 25-yard field goal by Janikowski.

Quarterback JaMarcus Russell struggled with his footing and accuracy (10 of 28, 132 yards) and was just 3 of 13 for 29 yards in the second half.

And for the fifth consecutive game, only one Oakland wide receiver caught a pass. It went to Ronald Curry, who got no yards on the play. He caught the ball and pitched it to Darren McFadden for a 16-yard gain in the first quarter to set up the lone red-zone appearance.

That and using McFadden at wide receiver and as a quarterback in the "Stallion" formation are some of the ways Cable has tried to generate some offense. But the "Stallion" netted only five yards in four plays.

"Well, that's coach's decision," Russell said of the gimmick plays. "That's out of my hands. If they work, everybody will give him praise."

Plays such as that and trying a fake field goal in the second quarter aren't signs of desperation, according to Cable.

"I think you have to have creativity," Cable said. "It certainly gives the players something to focus on and a chance for them to go out and execute something that's creative and have fun doing it."

The Chiefs generated one long drive, a 91-yarder in which they converted four first downs to go ahead 17-10 on Larry Johnson's two-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Safety Gibril Wilson dropped an interception on that drive.

"It's not about the drop, it's just about us being on the field still and giving them seven points," Wilson said. "That's a huge turnaround."

And a turnaround for the Raiders will have to wait, too.

Read Jason Jones' Raiders blog at www.sacbee.com/raidersblog.