After stumbling against the Raiders, the Chiefs are looking to bounce back against the Bills. Our writers are mostly confident of a rebound.
Last week, our writers unanimously predicted the Kansas City Chiefs to beat the Las Vegas Raiders. All of our writers were wrong, as the Raiders came into Arrowhead Stadium and shocked the Chiefs.
The Chiefs came out strong and looked like they were heading to a blowout victory; however, the Raiders hung around and the two teams headed into halftime tied at 24. From there, it was all Raiders in the third quarter. They took a 30-24 lead which grew to a 40-24 lead in the fourth quarter. The Raiders ultimately beat the Chiefs 40-32.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes did not have a good game at all. He completed 22 of 43 passes for 340 yards, 2 touchdowns, but also threw his first interception of the season. On the other hand, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr had perhaps his best game of the season, completing 22 of 31 passes for 3 touchdowns and 1 interception.
Now the Chiefs are getting ready to put this loss behind them and as they head to Buffalo to take on the Bills. The Bills are coming off a loss as well, although it was a much worse loss as the Tennessee Titans came out firing on all cylinders to beat them 42-16.
Both teams are coming into the game with injuries, but the Chiefs are more banged up than the Bills. The Chiefs will be without offensive guard Kelechi Osemele who tore tendons in both his knees last week. They will also be without wide receiver Sammy Watkins who sustained a hamstring injury.
The Bills will be without their starting tight end Dawson Knox with a calf injury. He didn’t practice all week, and was officially ruled out Saturday.
Despite the Chiefs’ injuries, our writers are mostly confident in a bounce back win for the team. Here are our full writer predictions.
Drew Brooks: Chiefs 31, Bills 28
The Chiefs are coming off a game they shouldn’t have lost and now get ready to face a good Bills team. I think this is going to be a really tough matchup and both teams will be tied going into the last two minutes of the game. I think Patrick Mahomes will lead the team down into field goal range for Harrison Butker to hit the game winner as time expires.
Matt Conner: Chiefs 28, Bills 24
I think this game will be a tough out for either side but the Chiefs have the experience and coaching edge here to bounce back from last week with immediate lessons learned. Plus this Bills defense is more bark than bite.
Sterling Holmes: Chiefs 30, Bills 28
The best QB in the NFL, in Patrick Mahomes, going up against maybe the most exciting in Josh Allen, this is going to be awesome. The Chiefs defense does scare me after last weeks performance but I expect a bounce-back game as a whole for KC. The Bills defense hasn’t performed up to their standard this year and I think the KC offensive line will protect Patrick. Josh Allen may stiff-arm a Chiefs linebacker into dust but the Chiefs defense and Spags will confuse him enough to come away with the win.
Scott Loring: Chiefs 36, Bills 23
Someone is going to leave this game in a two-game losing streak. While both teams have looked like solid playoff contenders to begin 2020, one big difference is that the Chiefs are 3-0 against 2019 playoff teams while the Bills are 0-1 in those games. Buffalo has a lot to prove against the Chiefs, who enter the game as 3.5-point favorites to win.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen has a first quarter touchdown pass in every game this season, but Buffalo has struggled to run the ball in 2020. Also keep a close watch on Bills’ cornerback Tre’Davious White, who missed the Week 5 game with a back injury. It will be interesting to see how well the Bills’ 28th-ranked rushing offense will fare against Kansas City’s 29th-ranked rush defense.
Jordan Mannix: Chiefs 31, Bills 21
Chiefs are coming off an uncharacteristically ugly game on both sides. The Chiefs offense has an opportunity to bounce back against a struggling Bills defense, the Chiefs defense has the same opportunity against an exposed Bills defense. The Chiefs get back in the win column on Monday, taking down their main competition for the one-seed in the process.
Ellen Mathis: Bills 31, Chiefs 30
Honestly, I have no idea how to feel about this game. The way the Chiefs have played lately hasn’t been good enough while the Bills looked lights out. Then the Titans stomped on them. The game is at a weird time and it is in Buffalo so I guess that’s in Buffalo’s favor? Again, I just don’t know. I suppose I think both these teams are good, but the Bills are playing a little bit better on a more consistent basis – in particular in the trenches and because it is in Buffalo, they get the nod.
Byron Smith: Chiefs 17, Bills 10
The Bills defense is very good, better then the Raiders for sure, so unless the offense fixed everything over the week, this might be a low scoring game. The Bills however have an offensive line problem which combines beautifully with Josh Allen holding the ball forever. This should be a chiefs win, but they gotta go out and play better then they have.
Farzin Vousoughian: Chiefs 31, Bills 21
Both teams are coming off their first loss of the year. The Chiefs are more poised to bounce back with their offensive firepower.