They sat at home waiting for the Wild Card games to be concluded for one reason. And that’s because they were the best in the NFL this season. And those teams proved it on Sunday with all four playing at home as favorites and coming off as winners on the money line. It could be said that playing at home in the Divisional Round after a bye is an advantage, and that’s why teams play their tails off during the regular season to claim one of the two coveted spots in each conference. But that hasn’t always translated into wins.
In fact this is just the second time since the 2010 season that the top two seeds in each conference advanced to meet on Championship Sunday. The AFC had dominant showings from its top two with the Chiefs advancing to the conference title game for the first time since the 1993 season, and they will host the game for the first time in franchise history. The Chiefs easily covered the line against the Colts while the Pats advanced to their eighth consecutive AFC Championship by downing the Chargers.
The four highest scoring teams in the NFL all came out victorious, but points were still not easy to come by. The Pats were the only one of the four that scored more than its season average, and they easily cashed the over by throttling the Chargers 41-28. Over their last 10 playoff games the Pats have played over the closing total in eight of them. The Rams and Cowboys also exceeded the total giving the over/under a 2-2 record over the weekend.
NFL Divisional Round Betting Summary
| WAGER | Favorite/Underdog |
| Straight Up | 4 – 0 |
| ATS | 3 – 1 |
| WAGER | Total (O/U) |
| Over/Under | 2 – 2 |
Divisional Round Betting Recap
If you predicted what we saw in the Chiefs-Colts game, you better make your way to the betting window now and buy some lottery tickets along the way. Patrick Mahomes led the league with 50 touchdown passes during the regular season for the highest scoring team, yet he was held off the board by the Colts defense. And the Chiefs still put up 31 points.
The biggest surprise from that game was probably the KC defense, which was one of the worst during the regular year. The group came to play on Saturday, holding red hot Andrew Luck to just 203 passing yards and limiting the Colts to 263 total yards, over 120 yards below their season average. The win also put to rest some question about the Chiefs postseason play. They were 1-11 in their previous 12 playoff games and had lost six in a row at Arrowhead Stadium.
The other AFC matchup was a typical day at the office for Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, who destroyed the Chargers 41-28. The layoff didn’t affect the Pats, who hit paydirt the first four times they had the football and built a 35-7 lead at halftime. A couple of fourth quarter LA touchdowns made the score closer than the game actually was and the Pats easily covered the 3.5-point line.
The games were much tighter in the NFC with the No. 1 seed Saints needing to rally to bring the legend of Nick Foles to a halt. This wasn’t going to be like the regular season meeting, which the Saints won 48-7 back in November. And it wasn’t. It took the Eagles just over four minutes to match their point total from the first game and they led 14-0 before the Saints even gained a yard.
It had been almost a month since the Saints played a meaningful game and it showed early on. Drew Brees tossed a pick on the first offensive play and the Saints failed to score a point in the opening 15 minutes. But once they got rolling, the Eagles were in trouble. Brees found a rhythm with Michael Thomas and the defense clamped down on Foles, not allowing a point over the final three and a half quarters. With a chance to go up by nine points and cover the 8.5-point line, Wil Lutz missed a 52-yard field goal with three minutes left in the fourth quarter.
The stage was set for Foles to unleash his magic and deliver a victory. He drove the Eagles into Saints territory and with just over two minutes left, his pass intended for Alshon Jeffery squirted through his hands right into the midsection of a Saints defensive back, ending the threat and the ball game.
NFL Betting Odds
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