It isn't often that you see a team go on a five-game losing streak and get right back in the thick of the playoff race a month later. The Kansas City Chiefs are right there once again, and if they can beat the San Diego Chargers on Sunday, they'll be back in control of their destiny as a Wild Card team in the AFC and could still be alive in the AFC West chase, too.
NFL Odds at BookMaker.eu
Kansas City Chiefs -3
San Diego Chargers +3
Over/Under 46
ODDS ANALYSIS
There's a lot to have the old antenna up about if you're a live bettor in this game just by looking at the betting lines. The Chiefs are favored by three, and they appear to be garnering a lot of the attention of the public as well.
This is the same script that was being followed over the course of the first few weeks of the season as well. Bettors were tripping over themselves to get to Kansas City, and yet it was consistently falling flat and finding ways to lose games. Sure, the Chiefs seem to be over that problem now, but this is the first time the betting public is all over them again since that five-game skid.
The total of 46 insinuates the potential is there for an up and down the field game.
WHEN THE KANSAS CITY CHIEFS HAVE THE BALL
Alex Smith and the Chiefs aren't really doing anything fancy right now. Charcandrick West is getting the ball in his hands a lot, and Smith isn't making many risky decisions with the football.
Smith only has three picks on 299 passing attempts this year, and we know that he is going to put the team in a position to score a bunch of points, albeit not necessarily touchdowns. Last week, there was a lot of settling for Cairo Santos field goals. Santos now has 21 field goals this year on 26 attempts, and that's far too many tries at three points, especially with most of those coming from down in relatively close.
The Chargers have had this knack of allowing touchdown drives late on in games. They've already allowed at least 10 points four times this season in the fourth quarters of games, and they generally don't have the horses to keep up in those situations.
Live bettors should be aware that that degree of physical dominance could come into play again. The Chiefs don't care; they're going to keep pounding the rock. The Chargers are very likely going to be without at least five defensive starters in this one, and their depth is really being tested.
WHEN THE SAN DIEGO CHARGERS HAVE THE BALL
Philip Rivers needs to make sure that his health insurance is paid up before stepping on the field in this one. He's got a ferocious pass rush coming after him headed by Justin Houston, and the men in red are really doing a nice job of pressuring opposing quarterbacks into bad decisions consistently.
Marcus Peters is the defensive back to watch out for, knowing that he can pick off even the best quarterbacks in this, his rookie season.
Rivers might already have over 3,000 yards passing, but he also doesn't have Malcom Floyd or Keenan Allen, and seemingly all of his tight ends are banged up, too.
Sure, Rivers is the type of guy who can pull this one out of his hat, but more realistically, the Bolts are going to be full of sound and fury with a lot of yards but not a lot of points, something that live bettors will have to remember. Yards don't win games and cover live betting spreads. Only points do.
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