NFL Betting Preview: San Diego Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs

Added on Sep 10, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

Two Monday Night Football games on the docket for the opening week of the NFL regular season, and we’ll take a look at an AFC West battle between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers. Chiefs were one of the worst teams in the NFL a year ago, finishing with a 4-12 SU record. San Diego finished 13-3 SU, but was unceremoniously dumped from the playoffs by the New York Jets.

San Diego Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs
September 13, 7:15 PM Pacific

To successfully bet on NFL football you need to be a contrarian, and it doesn’t get any more contrarian than backing the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs have been especially brutal at home in the past couple of years, posting a 5-11 ATS record over the past two years at once formidable Arrowhead Stadium. Kansas City is on a 0-6-1 ATS run as a home favorite and a 6-11 ATS run as home underdogs. That may be about to change, however, as the rebuilding project orchestrated by head coach Todd Haley may be about to show some results. The Chiefs outgained each of their last four opponents last year, and there’s an upgrade in talent on both sides of the ball.

And make no mistake about it, this is a big game for the franchise. Part of the return to competitiveness in the NFL for the Chiefs is once again making Arrowhead Stadium a miserable place for visiting teams to play. This would be a good place to start against a team that might be entering the year somewhat overconfident at the prospect of facing the third easiest schedule in the NFL. Charlie Weis is a much better offensive coordinator than a coach, and he’s got a veteran QB in Matt Cassel at the helm. The Chiefs should show dramatic improvement on defense under Romeo Crennel and their secondary should get better quickly with safety Eric Berry in the lineup.

At one point, Monday Night Football home underdogs were a license to print money. That was years ago, of course, and the dynamic of the Monday Night game has changed significantly but it’s still a big deal. With a lot of optimism in Kansas City it should be a madhouse at Arrowhead Stadium, and against a Chargers team that has some holes to fill on both sides of the ball the Chiefs could keep it close and maybe even steal a victory. San Diego has always struggled in Kansas City—they enter this game on a 3-8 ATS run at Arrowhead Stadium. Their luck has improved there in the past couple of years, and we’re thinking that Haley and his team are going to give a strong effort at changing that.

Bet Kansas City Chiefs +4’ over San Diego Chargers