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| Kansas City Chiefs | San Diego Chargers |
| 11-4 | December 29, 2013, 04:25 | Qualcomm Stadium | 8-7 |
The San Diego Chargers are playing for their playoff lives. The Kansas City Chiefs are playing for absolutely nothing.
That helps explain the Chargers being double-digit home favorites in Sunday’s game. San Diego opened as a 10-point
The Chiefs are locked in to the fifth seed in the AFC. The Chargers must win and need both the Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins to lose to earn a Wild Card berth in the playoffs.
The Chargers beat the Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium in the first meeting between the two AFC West rivals this season and have won 10 of the last 12 overall.
The Ravens play the Cincinnati Bengals, and Miami Dolphins play the New York Jets. Both games kick off at 1 p.m. ET, so the Chargers will know their fate before their late game against the Chiefs’ kick off. That will impact the point spread at game time, so watch for late movement at Sportsbook.
Some trends of note, the Chargers are 10-2 SU past 12 vs Chiefs; the Chiefs are 1-7 SU past eight trips to San Diego; the Chiefs are 6-1 ATS on the road in 2013; the UNDER is 5-0-1 past six games when Chiefs were road dogs and; the Chiefs are just 3-8 SU in their past 11 divisional games.
Backers of the Chargers have seen them go 8-7 and 9-5-1 ATS so far this season, while the Chiefs are at 11-4 and 8-7 ATS. In totals betting, the Chiefs are 6-9, while the Chargers are 6-9.
View Kansas City Chiefs vs San Diego Chargers Odds and Stats.
Oddsmakers at Sportsbook had the Chargers as 10-point favorites in the game, while the betting total was sitting at 45 over at Sportsbook (where a $1000 bonus remained intact through the end of 2013).
This game matches up the No. 10 (Chargers) and the No. 11 (Chiefs) teams in the league, according to our current NFL Power Rankings at OddsShark. A 29-24 result in favor of the Chiefs is predicted by handicapping models.
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Kansas City lost its last outing, a 23-7 result against the Colts on December 22. The Chiefs failed to cover in that game as a 7.5-point favorite, while the 30 combined points took the game UNDER the total. In their last game, the Chargers were Week 16 winners, coming out on top of the Raiders by a score of 26-13.
How They Match Up:
The game also pits San Diego's No. 14-ranked offense, averaging 24.6 PPG, against a Chiefs defense that ranks No. 4 this week at 18.53 PPG. The Chargers aerial game is averaging 273.93 yards per game, more than the Chiefs secondary allows through the air, 249.53 YPG per game.
In comparing defenses, the Chiefs own the league's No. 29-rated front 7 in terms of stopping the run, allowing 140 yards per game when on the road. San Diego, on the other hand, rates No. 16 this week in generating rushing yards at home.
A few Chiefs at Chargers trends to consider:
Kansas City is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games
Kansas City is 11-4 SU in its last 15 games
Kansas City is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Kansas City's last 5 games
San Diego is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games
San Diego is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 8 of San Diego's last 11 games
San Diego is 5-2 ATS in its last 7 games at home
Next up:
Kansas City home to , Wednesday, December 31st
San Diego home to , Wednesday, December 31st
