This season’s race in the AFC West is already interesting, heading into this Week 2 Chiefs-Chargers rivalry battle Thursday night in Kansas City. These two teams are expected to battle it out all season for this divisional title, and both opened this season with victories last week. The Chiefs are favored by three and a hook for Thursday night. Who do we like here for our free LAC/KC pick?
NFL Betting Lines
The Week 2 NFL betting odds opened Kansas City as a 3.5-point home favorite for Thursday night, with an over/under of right around 54. Early betting action then edged that total up to 54.5 and the spread to KC -4.
Chargers-Chiefs NFL Betting Preview
Los Angeles opened this 2022 season with a 24-19 victory over Las Vegas last Sunday. The Chargers drove their opening possession of the season to a field goal and used two second-quarter touchdowns to lead 17-3 at the half. Los Angeles later allowed the Raiders to pull within 24-19 with almost five minutes left in the game but held on from there for the win and the cover as a four-point favorite. Also, that game went Under the 53 total. The Chargers out-gained Las Vegas 355-320, held a 33:27 edge in time of possession, won the turnover battle 3-0, and recorded six sacks, three by new LB Khalil Mack. Going back into last season, Los Angeles has out-gained seven of its last nine opponents. Kansas City, meanwhile, opened its 2022 campaign with a 44-21 win at Arizona Sunday. The Chiefs drove their first three possessions of the season to touchdowns and led 23-7 at the half. Kansas City then drove its first three possessions of the second half to TDs and cruised home from there for the W and the money at -6. Also, that game played over a total of 54 in garbage time. The Chiefs out-gained the Cardinals 488-282, out-rushed Arizona 128-103, and won time of possession 35:25. So stretching back into last regular season, Kansas City has now out-gained eight of its last nine opponents and out-rushed five of its last six foes.
Chargers-Chiefs Recent History
These two teams have split four meetings SU since Justin Herbert took over as the starter at QB for Los Angeles. But Kansas City rested a bunch of starters in one of its losses, including QB Mahomes, because it was already locked into its playoff seeding. So the Chiefs with Mahomes are 2-1 SU against the Chargers with Herbert. Two of those three games were decided in overtime, the other on an LA touchdown in the last half-minute. So these two teams have played some really close games recently.
- Get more details: LA Chargers at Kanasas City Chiefs 9/15/22 Betting Stats
NFL Betting Trends
Favorites played 10-5 SU, 8-8 ATS (one tie game) in the NFL last week. Home teams played 6-9 SU but 9-7 ATS last week.
Totals Report
- The Overs went 10-7 in Chargers games last season, which averaged 55 total points.
- The Over also went 10-7 in Chiefs games last season, which averaged 52 points.
- The Under is 2-1 in the three Mahomes-Herbert match-ups, which averaged (without OT) 50 points.
- NFL Week 1 action saw the UNDER cash in eleven of the sixteen games.
