QPR consigned Hull to back-to-back Sky Bet Championship defeats to keep alive their own play-off aspirations with a 3-1 win at the MKM Stadium.
Daniel Bennie essentially did the damage after 84 minutes when the Hong Kong-born winger let rip from the edge of the penalty area - seconds after he came off the substitutes' bench.
Rangers then put the game to bed in stoppage time after Richard Kone cut in from the left before directing the ball past Ivor Pandur.
Hull deserved nothing against well-drilled opponents and fell behind after 21 minutes when Harvey Vale's corner caused carnage, with the football eventually hitting Paddy McNair's left thigh for an own goal.
The hosts equalised after 39 minutes when Joe Gelhardt cashed in from close range following Ronnie Edwards' error.
But QPR boss Julien Stephan was quite content to play the waiting game and was rewarded late on when Bennie and Kone scored fine individual goals.
Hull, however, dominated possession in a one-sided start to the game.
The difficulty for the hosts, though, soon became apparent.
QPR were perfectly happy to sit back and invite pressure before choosing their moments on the counter-attack.
Liam Millar fizzed a neat shot just wide of the far post after three minutes, but that was as good as it got for Hull within the first 20 minutes of the game - after which QPR became a growing threat.
Their opening goal, however, still came as a mild surprise given the context of the game.
McNair was credited with an own goal, but Vale's perfect in-swinging corner presented the experienced centre-back with an almost impossible job.
His task was also compounded by goalkeeper Pandur, who badly misjudged the flight of the ball and collided into team-mate Oli McBurnie on the edge of the six-yard box.
Home supporters became restless as Hull failed to immediately respond to that concession.
But they still somehow equalised before the break when Yu Hirakawa found a pocket of space on the right wing and sent a low cross into the penalty area.
Hirakawa's delivery was not especially threatening, but Edwards made a mess of what should have been a routine clearance.
Gelhardt could not have missed, but nearly did so with a scuffed effort that squirmed into the net.
The beginning of the second half mirrored that of the first - Hull in possession but going nowhere; QPR seemingly content to leave East Yorkshire with a point.
But the longer the game went on, the more the visitors fancied their chances of victory.
Rayan Kolli should have done better from a promising position when he fired over the crossbar, while Nicolas Madsen's free-kick needed strong palms from Pandur.
Hull made several changes, but they failed to ignite a scruffy second half in which the home team looked jaded.
QPR, conversely, were far more creative going forward and punished the labouring Tigers when Bennie took control with a fine strike into the top-right corner - after which Kone put the seal on a convincing away victory.
The managers
Hull's Sergej Jakirovic:
To follow...
QPR's Julien Stephan:
To follow...