Here is who national experts are predicting will win Chiefs-Chargers game
Is this a trap game for the Chiefs?
With the Ravens looming for a “Monday Night Football” meeting in Week 3, the Chiefs travel to California to face the Chargers, who edged the Bengals in their season opener.
Is there a chance the Chiefs, 1-0, get caught looking ahead on Sunday? The pundits don’t seem to think so.
Forty-one experts from around the nation made predictions for Sunday’s game. Here are the picks and what they’re saying about the game, which starts at 3:25 p.m. and will be broadcast on CBS (Ch. 5):
Each of the eight CBS Sports experts believe the Chiefs will win: Ryan Wilson, Jason La Canfora, Pete Prisco, Jared Dubin, John Breech, Will Brinson, Dave Richard and Jamey Eisenberg. Prisco predicted a 23-20 Chiefs victory. This is part of what wrote: “The Chargers did a good job on Patrick Mahomes last year and I think they can in this game as well. The Chargers will hang around because of their defense. It’s close.”
The Chiefs will prevail 34-21 says Tadd Haislop of the Sporting News. This is a snippet of what he wrote: “The Chargers got away with an average offensive performance in their escape against the Bengals. They won’t get away with it against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.”
A 27-17 Chiefs win is the forecast from Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com. This is part of what he wrote: “Despite rookie runner Joshua Kelley adding some juice to the Bolts’ attack, that will not work while trying to keep up with Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs’ young cornerbacks are worth attacking all day, but the Chargers don’t have the mindset — or the schematic diversity — to pull it off.”
The Chiefs are picked to win by Mike Florio and Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. Smith sees a 31-17 victory. He wrote: “The Chiefs looked in Week One like they’ve picked up right where they left off, as the best team in the NFL.” Florio, who is predicting a 30-20 final score, wrote: “Andy Reid gets a mini-bye to get ready for the Chargers. He won’t need it.”
A Chiefs victory is the pick from six Bleacher Report writers. This is a portion of what Brad Gagnon wrote: “”Let’s not pretend that these two teams are in each other’s league just because they’re technically tied atop the AFC West,” Gagnon said. “This line isn’t in the double digits because of that fact, but the Chargers probably should have lost Sunday to a team that went 2-14 last season.”
All seven experts from USA Today went with the Chiefs: Jarrett Bell (30-24 final score), Nate Davis (31-20), Jori Epstein (35-27), Mike Jones (35-24), Mike Middlehurst-Schwartz (31-20), Lorenzo Reyes (36-22) and Tom Schad.(31-17).
NFL Network analytics expert Cynthia Frelund gives the Chiefs a 73% chance of winning, the highest percentage of any team this weekend:
Each of the nine experts at ESPN see the Chiefs winning: Matt Bowen, Mike Clay, Jason Reid, Trey Wingo, Mina Kimes, Laura Rutledge, Dan Graziano, Kevin Seifert and Seth Wickersham.
All six of the Sports Illustrated Monday Morning Quarterback writers picked the Chiefs: Albert Breer, Andrew Brandt, Connor Orr, Gary Gramling, Jenny Vrentas and Mitch Goldich.
