Ricky Dimon
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The Kansas City Chiefs were the NFL’s new big thing right from the start of the 2018 campaign, surging to a 5-0 record that featured road victories over the Chargers and Steelers. They never looked back, losing only to eventual Super Bowl champion New England and the NFC champion Rams through the first 11 weeks. Although Kansas City stumbled just a bit late in the regular season, it still wrapped up the AFC West crown and earned the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs. Home-field advantage ended up not being quite enough, as the Chiefs lost a heartbreaker of a conference title game to the Patriots 37-31 in overtime. Now let’s dive into the Kansas City Chiefs Betting Recap for the 2018 season.
MVP
In what was really his first season in the NFL, quarterback Patrick Mahomes was football’s most exciting—and arguably the best—player. The 2017 first-round draft pick out of Texas Tech threw left-handed passes, no-look passes, dazzled with his feet, torched opponents with his arm, and ultimately led Kansas City to a 12-4 record. His individual numbers were even more eye-popping than his team’s record: 5,097 passing yards, 50 touchdowns compared to only 12 interceptions, 272 rushing yards, and two more TDs on the ground. It was obvious right away that betting on the Chiefs and the overs was going to be a smart move throughout 2018. In the first three games, Mahomes threw a ridiculous 13 touchdowns without getting picked off a single time as K.C. went 3-0 SU, 3-0 ATS, and 3-0 O/U. A couple of other stars like Drew Brees and Todd Gurley kept pace in the MVP discussion for a while, but Mahomes’ was too consistent—and simply too good—week in and week out to be denied.
Chiefs Against the Spread
Following its 3-0 O/U start, the Chiefs’ offense just kept rolling. The pace slowed down at least somewhat due in part to Kareem Hunt’s ouster, but the over still finished 10-5-1. For no team was the over a better play, and only the Jets (10-6 O/U) were particularly close in that department. Kansas City finished first in the NFL in total offense and scoring offense, while finishing second-to-last in total defense and 24th in scoring defense. If that’s not a recipe for overs, I don’t know what is!
Chiefs Over/Under
If you started betting on the Chiefs and the Under in the second half of the season, you raked in the cash. But for people who made plays on this team throughout the entire 2018 campaign, they came out just about even. In addition to being an almost-.500 8-7-1 ATS, Indianapolis was an exactly-.500 8-8 Over/Under. The Under went 5-2 in the final seven outings, including two shutouts (Indy somehow lost to the awful Jaguars 6-0 and then somehow humiliated a solid Cowboys team 23-0). In their last two showdowns against the division-rival Titans, with whom they were battling for a wild card, the Colts surrendered a total of just 27 points.
The next step
It’s Super Bowl or bust for the Chiefs. That doesn’t mean they are heavily favored to triumph next February (in fact, they aren’t even favored at all), but a Lombardi Trophy—or at least making it to Miami—would be the logical next step. After getting upset at home by Tennessee in the 2017 wild-card round, Kansas City benefited from an opening bye and then took care of the Colts 31-13 prior to coming out on the short end of the AFC Championship thriller against New England. Mahomes is obviously back, the team presumably won’t have to deal with any kind of drama such as the Hunt debacle of 2018, and the defense surely can’t be any worse with former coordinator Bob Sutton no longer around. If that side of the ball can improve even a little bit and Mahomes works similar wonders under center, there is no ceiling for the Chiefs. They are tied with the Rams at +700 second choices behind New England (+650) to win the Super Bowl.
