The red-hot Kansas City Chiefs will be looking to solidify their position as the AFC’s top Wild Card with a seventh straight win when they play host to the struggling San Diego Chargers on Sunday as big 10-point betting favorites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
It looked to be a lost season for the Chiefs after they followed up an opening day win over Houston with five consecutive straight up and against the spread losses, including a pair of defeats on home turf as betting underdogs.
Kansas City has since made a stunning turnaround, posting six straight SU and ATS wins to join the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets at 7-5, entering Sunday afternoon’s Chargers vs. Chiefs betting matchup at Arrowhead Stadium atop the AFC Wild Card race on the strength of their 6-2 SU record against conference opponents.
The Chiefs host a Chargers squad that has had far less to cheer about, going 1-8 SU in their last nine games following a 17-3 loss at home to Denver last weekend.
San Diego faces the huge task of ending three-game SU and four-game ATS losing streaks against the Chiefs, who have held opposing passers to under 200 yards in the air in three of their last five outings.
The Broncos, meanwhile, will try to pad their lead atop the AFC West when they host the faltering Oakland Raiders as big 8.5-point favorites. Led by young quarterback Brock Osweiler, Denver has won three straight to move to 10-2 on the year, and have now won two straight ATS for the first time since Week 3.
After opening their campaign on a 4-3 SU run, and looking ready to contend for a postseason berth for the first time since 2002, the Raiders have lost four of five, averaging just 17.75 points per game during that stretch.
Complicating their current woes, Oakland has also lost eight straight to the Broncos, 1-7 ATS, according to the OddsShark NFL Database, a stretch that follows four straight victories at Mile High Stadium.
Elsewhere in Week 14, the Steelers will try to keep pace with Kansas City when they visit the Cincinnati Bengals as 3-point underdogs, while the Jets look for a third straight win when they battle the Tennessee Titans as 7.5-point chalk.
Pittsburgh is winless SU and ATS in their last two on the road, while the 10-2 Bengals have allowed just over 11 points per game over their last six. New York has won two straight at home against the Titans, who are winless ATS in four of their last five.