The Kansas City Chiefs looked like they were going to drop their Week 2 matchup at home against the upstart Los Angeles Chargers. Led by Justin Herbert, the Chargers would love to loosen the Chiefs’ hammerlock on the AFC West, but they will have to finish games to accomplish that. Kansas City took a late interception 99 yards to the house to cement a 27-24 win on Thursday. That followed up a 44-21 demolition of Arizona in which the Chiefs looked two gears faster than the Cardinals. Next up is a visit to Indianapolis to take on the 0-1-1 Colts, who took a flyer on veteran quarterback Matt Ryan in the off-season but may only have found that he is just as old as he looked last season in Atlanta. The Colts settled for a 20-20 tie in Houston to start the season before heading to Jacksonville and taking a 24-0 whipping at the hands of the Jaguars. Things don’t get any easier with the Chiefs showing up in Indianapolis. The spread has moved from Kansas City -3 at open to 5 ½ points, so take a look at our thoughts about the NFL betting value you can get from this game.
NFL Preview: Kansas City Chiefs at Indianapolis Colts
(Sunday, September 25)
When: Sunday, September 25, 2022, 1:00 pm ET
Where: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis
TV: CBS
Radio: WDAF 106.5 FM Kansas City / WFNI 107.5 FM Indianapolis
Live Stream: Sling TV
NFL Odds: Kansas City -5.5 / O/U 50.5 // Kansas City -240 / Indianapolis +196
Why should you bet on the Chiefs?
The Chiefs not only have Patrick Mahomes leading the offense, but they have two solid options at tailback. Isaac Pacheco ran for 62 yards and a touchdown in Week 1, while Clyde Edwards-Helaire pounded the ball in his Week 2 return. Mahomes has seven touchdown passes through two weeks, putting him on pace for almost 60 on the season.
If there are questions for the Chiefs, they would have to come on defense, but the Chargers do have one of the top offenses in the AFC, and the Chiefs were able to keep pace with them and made the big play on defense in the late stages of the game. In their last 13 games overall, the Chiefs have covered nine times. However, against teams with losing records, the Chiefs have covered just twice in their last nine outings. This says something about the parity at work in the league, but it also suggests that the Chiefs at times play down to the level of the opposition.
Why should you put your money on the Colts?
There are some who like to pin all the blame for the recent failures of the Colts on the revolving door at quarterback. After all, since the surprise retirement of Andrew Luck, the Colts have tried Jacoby Brissett, Philip Rivers and Carson Wentz, and only Rivers got them to the playoffs, where their postseason lasted one game. With Matt Ryan at the helm, the team’s offense does look slow, and it has affected the running game as well, with Jonathan Taylor only picking up 54 yards on nine carries in Week 2.
However, the Colts’ defense has to take some blame as well. They allowed the Jaguars to jump out to a 17-0 halftime lead last week, and giving up 20 points to a Houston team that has a glorified backup at quarterback also puts some accountability on that side of the ball. Frank Reich has some coaching to do this week, but the Colts are still underperforming – and it’s all not on the signal-caller.
Final Score and Prediction
The Chiefs should be able to zero in on Jonathan Taylor and get pressure on Matt Ryan, which means that they should be able to generate turnovers and keep the ball longer. The Colts’ defense should play better than last week, so I don’t expect video game-speed scoring for the Chiefs, but Kansas City should pull away late. I predict a final score of Kansas City 28, Indianapolis 20.
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