Chiefs Kingdom’s guide to NFL’s best bets for Week 18
The real action is just getting started for the Chiefs and 13 other franchises. Let’s ride off into the regular season sunset with Week 18’s best bets.
It’s fitting that this week marked the 10-year anniversary of the Kansas City Chiefs’ signing of Andy Reid as their head coach, forever altering the trajectory of a once downtrodden franchise. What a great time for reflection, right?
It got me thinking about the mindset I used to have when the last week of the regular season rolled around. What was there to look forward to? Well, nothing really. Sometimes we had the opportunity to dream about the prospects of potentially maybe beating a team in the Wild Card round, then we got brought back to Earth time and again by a 23-year playoff winless streak. Stoked about high draft picks? Sure, for a while, until the team ended up with guys like Jonathan Baldwin, Glenn Dorsey, and Tyson Jackson.
Needless to say, when Big Red inked the deal back in 2013, there were more exciting days ahead just like there are for the 2022 Chiefs heading into the playoffs. For the teams who will not make the postseason? Some will search for new leadership, others will search for new quarterbacks and pieces to put around said signal callers, and one might even consider trading for Derek Carr. Who knows This is also a time of new beginnings for some (Giants and Jags) and a time to settle unfinished business for others. What this week certainly is not: easy to pick.
A couple of games will firmly dictate how certain lines will play out. Right now the Broncos are 2.5-point favorites over the Chargers. How? Well, if the Bengals defeat the Ravens in the early slate on Sunday, the Chargers will be locked into the AFC’s top Wild Card spot which will likely push them to rest their starters before the playoffs begin. If Baltimore wins? Hammer the Chargers +2.5. This gambling advisor will be staying away from that contest. Here are the best bets of a certainly uncertain Week 18 slate.
Tennessee Titans at Jacksonville Jaguars (-6)
The Jags showed last week that they are not going to mess around with lesser opponents, and the Titans happen to be just that right now. Josh Dobbs making his second NFL start with the AFC South on the line does not bode well for the Titans, who at one point in the season were 7-3 before losing their last 6 straight. Injuries have marred a once-promising season for Tennessee, but the momentum of these two franchises could not be heading in different directions. Jacksonville makes the playoffs for the first time since 2017 with a convincing win over the AFC’s top seed from a year ago.
Minnesota Vikings (-7.5) at Chicago Bears
The Vikings got absolutely manhandled by the Packers last week and have the NFC’s 2 seed on the line, but do they really want it? If Green Bay takes care of business against Detroit, the Vikings will be staring down a rematch with the very team that just disrobed them on national television in Week 17. If they lose? They get the New York Giants, who they barely escaped in Week 16. If you’re a Vikings fan, neither playoff scenario looks great, but hey, at least you get to play Nathan Peterman in Week 18! The Peterman effect wins out here and the Vikings win easily, whatever that means.
New York Giants (+14) at Philadelphia Eagles
Fourteen points? I mean, sure the Giants are locked into the NFC’s 6 seed and could rest their starters. But that hardo Brian Daboll doesn’t seem like the kind of guy that believes in water breaks, let alone resting starters. The Eagles have to have this win, and they will get it, but a 14-point spread in a divisional game between two playoff teams seems a little drastic to me.
Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers UNDER 49.5
Does this have shootout potential? Sure, but when a game seems like it’s going to go that way I tend to lean the other way. I think Green Bay takes care of business easily in this game, unfortunately. The Fighting Dan Campbells are a little ahead of schedule but are set up nicely to be everyone’s dark horse team in 2023. Lions vs. Jags in Super Bowl 59? Probably not, but everyone can dream. I see Green Bay’s defense clamping down and the experience factor kicking into overdrive in this do-or-die affair at Lambeau Field.
Listen, who knows how this will go? I went 0-3-1 last week, pushing the season record to 28-17-2. If we can finish over .600 for the season, I’ll be a proud retired gambler. If we can’t, well, that’s why I don’t gamble anymore.