KANSAS CITY — The Raiders don’t need a win Sunday in Kansas City to impact their outlook going into the offseason.

“I really believe in what we’ve started here, and I believe there will be momentum going into the offseason regardless of the outcome,” coach Jack Del Rio said.

Don’t mistake that for ambivalence about the season finale against the Chiefs (10-5), the NFL’s hottest team. Kansas City is riding a nine-game winning streak and has a shot at the AFC West title.

“I would say that I want very badly to go on the road and win a game this weekend,” Del Rio said in continuing his thought.

A win gets the Raiders to 8-8 for the first time since consecutive .500 seasons in 2010-11, and that carries a better perception than a 7-9 mark.

“It would be awesome, it would be huge,” quarterback Derek Carr said. “Everything has been better than last year, so that’s nice. It would be cool, but at the same time, it’ll push you, because no matter what we finish, it’s not where we want to be. It’s not where I want to be, I know that, so it’s just going to drive me and push me to work hard this offseason.”

The finale will also serve as the end of Charles Woodson’s illustrious 18-year career, and the Raiders want to send one of the all-time greats out on a good note.

“It’s about finishing this season strong, finishing it the best way we can and sending out one of the best to play the game with a happy smile on his face,” defensive end Khalil Mack said.

Woodson, who announced on Dec. 21 his plans to retire, said he has tried to make this week as normal as possible.

“You try to stay locked into the routine, but there’s a lot of requests to talk about it, how you feel leading up to your last game,” Woodson said. “You try to separate the two, but it’s hard.”

Woodson has talked plenty about what he sees as a bright future for the Raiders and, unlike Del Rio, he thinks Sunday could help positively impact the future. He has seen it before.

In 1999, Woodson and the Raiders were 7-8 entering the season finale against the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. Kansas City needed a victory to win the division and go to the playoffs, but the Raiders rallied for a 41-38 overtime win to knock the Chiefs out of the postseason.

That helped set the wheels in motion for a run that saw the Raiders go 12-4 the next season and make the playoffs three straight years, culminating in a Super Bowl appearance.

“At that point in time, we had built our team, we had built what we were going to be,” Woodson said reflecting on the ’99 season. “We felt like we’re only a couple pieces away from actually competing and winning those close games like a lot of those games we lost this year.”

That experience tells Woodson that Sunday could be meaningful.

“For us to go in and hopefully get this win this week, with the young guys that you have, knowing that you can go into Arrowhead, beat a team that’s going to the playoffs, that tells you, ‘Look, you’re not far off,’ ” Woodson said. “We went to Denver, beat Denver, they’re a playoff team. They’re going to the next round. So you have a good team, so you’re not going to be far off and this will say a lot about the team.”

Carr also sees plenty of value in building momentum Sunday and points to winning three of the final six games last year as evidence.

“We’ve done some pretty good things as of late as a team,” Carr said. “That’s the kind of stuff that builds things in the offseason program when you’re working out and lifting, because you know what you did and what you finished, so you know that, ‘Oh, hey, if I do it better this time around, we can finish better.’ “

Mack veers more toward Del Rio’s line of thinking.

“You believe in it,” Mack said of momentum, “but at the same time it’s all about the focus of the team, the leadership on both sides of the ball and making sure everybody’s focused and doing what they need to do in the offseason.”

Before they worry about that, there is this final game. Kansas City needs a win and a Denver loss to capture the AFC West title. The Chiefs are going to the playoffs regardless, so the spoiler potential isn’t as large.

But the Raiders would still like to deny Kansas City that shot at the division, perhaps none more than linebacker Ben Heeney — a Kansas native and University of Kansas product who will have friends and family packing the stands.

“That’s our only goal now,” Heeney said of the spoiler opportunity. “That’s our last game, our last opportunity to play together as a team, especially just being a division rival, that’s definitely something we want to get.”

For more on the Raiders, visit the Inside the Oakland Raiders blog at ibabuzz.com/oaklandraiders.