Here is who national experts are predicting will win Kansas City Chiefs-Browns game
And ... here ... we ... go.
The 62nd season of Chiefs football begins Sunday with a game against the Cleveland Browns at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs have Super Bowl aspirations, and they’ll get a test out of the gate. The Browns are coming off their first playoff season in 18 years and hope to threaten the Chiefs grip on the AFC crown.
Here is what 56 national experts are saying about the game, which kicks off at 3:25 p.m. and will be broadcast on CBS (Ch. 5).
Each of the eight CBS Sports writers think the Chiefs will win: Pete Prisco, Jason La Canfora, Dave Richard, Will Brinson, Jared Dubin, Jamey Eisenberg, John Breech and Ryan Wilson. Prisco forecast a 28-26 score. This is part of what he wrote: “(T)his is a better Cleveland team. But Kansas City is improved as well, especially up front. I think the Chiefs will win the game behind Patrick Mahomes, but the Browns will again keep it close.”
A 33-30 Chiefs victory is the prediction from Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com. Here is part of what he wrote: “Few coaches come out of the gates swinging bigger than Reid, who is trying to take a page from Kevin Stefanski’s playbook with a road-grading offensive line. The Browns are more talented overall, have a higher ceiling on defense and more weapons on offense.”
The Chiefs will win, say both Football Talk writers. Mike Florio, who sees a 34-27 victory, wrote in part: “The fact that (Cleveland) gave the Chiefs all they could handle in the playoffs will make it much harder to catch K.C. napping.” Michael David Smith, predicted a 31-21 win. He wrote: “The Chiefs’ offense should be as good as ever this season, and I don’t see the Browns being able to keep up.”
A Browns victory is the call from three of five Bleacher Report writers: Brad Gagnon, Wes O’Donnell and Ian Kenyon. Picking the Chiefs: Brent Sobleski and Gary Davenport. Here is part of what Gannon wrote: “”This is a weird one for me because I think the Chiefs are the best team in football,” Gagnon said. “It’s strange betting against them in Week 1, especially at home. But the Browns also continue to get better and aren’t far from Kansas City’s level. We saw that when they went toe-to-toe with the Chiefs on the road in last year’s playoffs, and this squad is much better defensively.”
Bill Bender of the Sporting News predicted a 31-28 Chiefs win. This is a snippet of what he wrote: “It would not surprise us if the Browns win this game given how they played in last year’s AFC divisional playoff game. Baker Mayfield can hit play-action throws behind a strong running game that features Nick Chubb and former Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt. The Browns also upgraded their back seven in the offseason.”
Five of the seven writers at USA Today think the Chiefs will win: Jori Epstein (34-28 final score), Mike Freeman (40-23), Mike Jones (35-33), Mike Middlehurst-Schwartz (28-24) and Lorenzo Reyes (33-28). Picking the Browns: Jarrett Bell (31-30) and Nate Davis (27-23).
Eight of the 11 experts at ESPN think the Chiefs will win: Emmanuel Acho, Matt Bowen, Domonique Foxworth, Rob Ninkovich, Laura Rutledge, Kevin Seifert, Seth Wickersham and Damien Woody. PIcking Cleveland: Mike Clay, Fowler and Dan Graziano.
A Chiefs win is the call from four of five Sports Illustrated writers: Gary Grammling, Mitch Goldich, Jenny Vrentas and Albert Breer. The lone pick for the Browns came from Conor Orr.
All eight of the writers at the Athletic picked the Chiefs: Michael-Shawn Dugar, Mark Kaboly, Tashan Reed, Ted Nguyen, Chris Burke, Jay Morrison, Nick Kosmider and Katherine Terrell.
The Chiefs will prevail says all four Athlon Sports writers: Rob Doster, Bryan Fischer, Mark Ross and Ben Weinrib.
The Chiefs are the pick from Audacy’s four writers: Jesse Pantuosco, John Healy, Jordan Cohn and Tim Kelly.
This story was originally published September 12, 2021 at 8:12 AM.
