KC Chiefs open as overwhelming favorites to win AFC West in 2021

The Kansas City Chiefs aren’t planning on abandoning their post atop the AFC anytime soon, and oddsmakers in Vegas clearly don’t believe they’ll be deterred from those plans with the latest lines to come out for the 2021 NFL season. The Chiefs are the class of the AFC West and they’re favored to stay that way for at least another year.

The latest odds from Action Network show that the Chiefs are favored to extend their current run of supremacy atop the AFC West for some time with a line of -400 to clinch the division in 2021. That’s the single greatest disparity between first and second place in any division—in the AFC or NFC—which means that bettors generally believe in the Chiefs’ talent but also the lack of other real contenders in the division.

The Chiefs have won five straight AFC West titles during their current run of dominance, a feat which has never been pulled off in franchise history before. A sixth straight title would begin to target a full decade, which would be an incredible feat. For now, a sixth straight division title would mean another run at the postseason for a Chiefs team that came up woefully short against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV.

With the Chiefs at -400, the Los Angeles Chargers come in next at +400. The Chargers are always offseason favorites in the minds of analysts and bettors due to the level of talent they have on paper. However, odd coaching decisions and an unfortunate spate of injuries always seem to remove them from truly competing. This offseason, however, they have Justin Herbert coming back as a second-year quarterback who looked excellent in his rookie year and a brand new head coach in Brandon Staley, who recently served as the L.A. Rams defensive coordinator.

The Chiefs are favored to win the AFC West again.

As for others in the West, the Las Vegas Raiders come in third at 15/1 odds (+1500) and the Denver Broncos are in last at 19/1 (+1900), meaning that both teams are considered by oddsmakers to be so far from real contention. Given that they split the season series with the Chiefs, the Raiders might have a real problem with that.

This past season, the Chiefs led the division at 14-2, followed by the Raiders at 8-8, the Chargers at 7-9, and the Broncos at 5-11.