The National Football League kicks off their final week of the regular season with two games today and the rest of the teams in action tomorrow. The competition starts with an afternoon contest between the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos and has the Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Dallas Cowboys in the nightcap.
Three of the teams in action today, Kansas City, Philadelphia and Dallas, are headed to the playoffs. The Cowboys have clinched the NFC East Division title and will be in action next week while the top seed, and only National Football Conference bye week, has already been secured by Aaron Rodgers and his Green Bay Packers.
The Kansas City Chiefs are hoping to secure the AFC top seed with a win today and a loss tomorrow by the Tennessee Titans. The Chiefs relinquished control of their own destiny last Sunday with their road loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Had they won that game, Kansas City would have only needed a win today to lock up the top seed. With the loss in the Queen City, Andy Reid’s squad needs help even with a victory today, and they are not likely to get it with the Titans playing the woeful Houston Texans tomorrow.
While I think the Chiefs win today, the double-digit line causes pause for risking money on the proposition. The Broncos would like nothing better than to end the Chiefs top seed hopes and can go full out without fear of failure or protecting players from injury given their season will end late this afternoon.
With both the Eagles and Cowboys assured of a Wild Card weekend playoff date, who these teams are willing to risk injury to in an almost meaningless contest leaves this game in the for viewing purposes only category.
What we are looking for in the final week of the season is a point spread that makes no sense, one that is designed by the books to lure money to the wrong side of the proposition. We get that in Cleveland.