Kansas City Bests AFC Playoff Field

The Kansas City Chiefs may be the defending Super Bowl champions. But they didn’t get a lot of respect on their way back to the Super Bowl. Kansas City began the playoffs with Super Bowl odds of +1000. There were four teams with lower odds, including Baltimore and Buffalo, from the AFC.

San Francisco and Dallas also went off at lower odds. But when the gun sounded in Baltimore on Sunday, the Chiefs had gotten the best of the AFC playoff field and were headed to Las Vegas.

One big reason the Chiefs were at higher NFL odds than they were before the season started was the offense. After leading the league in scoring in 2022 with 29.2 points per game, Kansas City scored just 21.8 points per game in 2023.

But bettors didn’t pay enough attention to the defense, which allowed 21.7 points per game in 2022 and just 17.3 points a game in 2023. That was No. 2 in the NFL in points allowed. And Kansas City’s defense could be dominant at times.

Kansas City finished the regular season with an 11-6 record, which put the Chiefs in a four-way tie for the second-best record in the AFC. But the tie-breaker went to the Bills and Kansas City would be on the road after hosting a wild card game.

Kansas City 26, Miami 7

The Chiefs began its march through the AFC playoff field by hosting the Miami Dolphins. The temperature was -4 degrees at kickoff. The wind chill factor put the temp at -27.

But it didn’t matter to the Chiefs. Kansas City jumped out to a 10-0 lead. After the Dolphins made it 10-7, the Chiefs added a pair of field goals before halftime to extend their lead to 16-7.

It was all Kansas City in the second half. The Chiefs, along with some help from the weather, held the Dolphins to 124 total yards over the final two quarters.

Kansas City had a 409-264 total yard edge and held the ball for 34 minutes and five seconds. The Chiefs easily covered the 4.5-point spread and the game went under the total of 43.5.

Kansas City 27, Buffalo 24

The Buffalo Bills were favored by 2.5 points and the total was 46 in an game that went down to the wire. No NFL team ever led by more than four points and there were six lead changes. Buffalo had a 368-361 total yards advantage and a 37:05-22:55 advantage in time of possession. But the Chiefs did enough did enough to get the win.

Kansas City scored early in the fourth quarter to take a 27-24 lead and the Bills missed a chance late to tie the score when Tyler Bass missed a 44-yard field goal with 1:43 remaining The Chiefs picked-up a first down and were able to run out the clock.

Kansas City 17, Baltimore 10

The Chiefs were road underdogs once again, this time getting 4.5 points against Baltimore in the AFC championship game. The teams traded touchdowns in the first quarter, but Kansas City scored 10 more points before halftime to lead 17-7.

Both teams had their defenses take over in the second half. That was fine with Kansas City, which had a 10-point lead until late in the NFL game. Jason Tucker pulled Baltimore with seven, 17-10 with a 43-yard field goal with 2:34 remaining in the game.

Aided by a couple of Baltimore penalties and key 32-yard pass from Patrick Mahomes to Marquez Valdes-Scantling on third down, Kansas City ran out the clock to complete its victory over the AFC playoff field.

Now, Kansas City plays San Francisco for a chance to repeat as Super Bowl champions. San Francisco is favored by 1, but that should make no difference to the Chiefs. Kansas City is 3-0 straight-up and ATS as an underdog this NFL season and 6-1 straight-up and ATS over the last three years.

For NFL betting news, NFL injury report, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.

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