OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Kansas City Chiefs have won 12 straight games against their rivals from the AFC West, but they have been pushed to the brink in a couple of those games. They had to go to overtime last season to extend their streak against both the Chargers and Denver Broncos.

But the Chiefs have had their way with the Oakland Raiders. The Chiefs have beaten the Raiders five straight times, dating to 2014. The slimmest margin was six points in the final game of the 2015 season, and three times the Chiefs have won by at least two touchdowns.

As the teams face off Thursday (8:25 p.m. ET, CBS) at the Oakland Coliseum, here are five reasons Kansas City has won five straight over Oakland:

1. The Chiefs don't score against the Raiders with just their offense. Defense and special teams also get involved. The Chiefs have scored in four of the five games in the kicking game or on defense. They've scored on punt returns (De'Anthony Thomas 81 yards in 2014, Tyreek Hill 78 yards last season). They had an interception return for a touchdown in 2015 from Tyvon Branch. They scored a safety in 2015 when a blocked punt went out of the end zone. All of Oakland's points against the Chiefs have been supplied by the Raiders' offense, except for a pick-six in 2015. Even in the one game in which the Chiefs' offense scored all the points, in 2016, the Chiefs got one of their touchdowns from a defensive player. Nose tackle Dontari Poe scored a touchdown on a 1-yard run.

2. Kansas City seems to play its best against quarterback Derek Carr. In fact, the Raiders wouldn't have given Carr his lucrative, long-term contract extension if he always plays the way he does against the Chiefs. Carr has a passer rating of 67 in the past five games against Kansas City, with five touchdowns, five interceptions, 1,041 yards and a completion percentage of less than 56. He was never worse than in the fourth quarter of a December 2015 game in Oakland in which he threw three interceptions. The Chiefs scored touchdowns after two of them and got a pick-six on the third to win easily.

3. The Chiefs allow the Raiders very few big plays. Oakland's longest pass play against the Chiefs in its past five games is 33 yards. During the same time, covering 40 regular-season games, Oakland has 43 passes of 33 yards or longer. Kansas City's combination of pass coverage and pressure has been good, as shown by Carr's low completion percentage. But the Chiefs have done well in eliminating big runs after the catch. Oakland averages just 4 yards after each catch in these past five games. "We understand what we're trying to do [against Oakland], and that's important," defensive coordinator Bob Sutton said. "We know that we've got to keep these [big] plays down. We can't let them have easy plays. That's a big part of it."

4. The Chiefs' starting field position in the five games has been, on average, 8.3 yards better than that of the Raiders. This isn't because the Chiefs have won the turnover battle. They've lost that 8-7. It's because of their domination on special teams. The Chiefs have the two touchdowns on punt returns, while the Raiders haven't scored in the kicking game. The Chiefs average 13 yards more per punt return than the Raiders.

5. The Chiefs have played situational football far better than Oakland. When the Chiefs get inside the Oakland 20, they usually score a touchdown. They are 11-of-15, or 73 percent, in the red zone in the past five games against Oakland. The Raiders are 5-of-10, or 50 percent. The Chiefs turned a six-point deficit at the end of the third quarter into a 14-point victory in 2015 by scoring touchdowns instead of kicking field goals when interceptions twice set them up inside the Oakland 15. Then a pick-six sealed the win. The Chiefs have also been the superior team on third downs, converting 41 percent of the time. The Raiders have converted 31 percent. In last year's game in Oakland, the Chiefs converted 54 percent on third down and kept the ball for almost 37 minutes in a 26-10 victory.