It’s AFC vs NFC this Friday when the Kansas City Chiefs host the Minnesota Vikings at Arrowhead Stadium on Friday night.
Kansas City is so far having an excellent preseason with wins in their first two assignments. That has not been the case for Minnesota which heads to this contest having lost their first two preseason games.
The Minnesota Vikings entered the preseason looking to impress after a 7-9 2020 season. But that has not happened as they are winless in two preseason games including a two-point home loss to the Colts in their last outing. The Minnesota offense only generated 8 first downs and scored only 10 points in a lackluster showing.
Minnesota has amassed a total of 227 offensive yards while allowing 288 in two preseason games. Jake Browning leads the Vikings with 82 passing yards while Ameer Abdullah leads the team with 35 rushing yards on six carries. Chad Beebe and KJ Osborn have combined to catch four passes for 74 total yards. On defense, Chazz Surratt has been the main man with 10 tackles while Blake Lynch has recorded one tackle for loss and Troy Dye has one interception.
Minnesota has scored only 16 points in two games and although this is just the preseason, they look out of synch. With the regular season just a couple of weeks away, the Vikings need to show a better effort if they want to improve from last season.
The Kansas City Chiefs look ready for the 2021 regular season and they have been impressive in the preseason. Kansas City is 2-0 and is coming off a 10-point win over the Arizona Cardinals where their defense took center stage. The Chiefs allowed the Cardinals to score only 10 points while accumulating just 239 yards. Kansas City will be aiming for a clean sweep of their 2021 preseason in front of their fans.
The Chiefs have produced a total of 458 yards of offense while only allowing their two preseason opponents to gain 239 combined yards. Shane Buechele leads the Chiefs with 115 passing yards with one touchdown and one interception. Derrick Gore has rushed for 54 yards on 8 carries while Byron Pringle and Daurice Fountain have a total of 7 catches for 117 receiving yards. DeAndre Baker has four tackles while Chris Jones and Juan Thornhill have one sack and one interception, respectively for the KC defense.
So far, the Chiefs have looked scary because their defense has looked good. We know what that offense can do so this should be another successful season ahead for Kansas City, who are the odds on favorite to win Super Bowl LVI.
Minnesota is 4-5 SU in their last 9 preseason games, 1-3 in their last four preseason road games, and 6-2 SU in their last 8 preseason road games as underdogs.
Kansas City is just 5-5 SU in their last 10 preseason games, 3-2 in their last five preseason games as betting favorites, and 6-4 SU in their last 10 preseason games played at home.
Although they have looked good on the road in previous preseasons, The Vikings are winless in preseason play with both of their previous games being played at their home field.
The quarterback rotation is unknown as of right now but the Vikings’ backup QBs have been underwhelming in their previous two games with Mond and Browning combining to produce just nine points so far.
I expect the KC rotation to be much better and it’s hard to trust the Minnesota offense right now. That said, I will pick the Kansas City Chiefs to win at their home field on Friday.
Prediction: Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs are 5-5 ATS in their last 10 preseason games, 3-2 ATS in their last five preseason games as favorites, and also 5-5 ATS in their last 10 preseason home games. Overall, Kansas City is 2-8 in their last 10 games as betting favorites, 1-9 ATS in their last 10 games on grass, and 1-5 ATS in their last six home games.
The Vikings are 4-5 ATS in their last 9 preseason games and 6-2 ATS in their last 8 preseason games as road underdogs and 1-3 ATS in their last four preseason road games. Overall, the Vikings are 0-7 in their last seven games played.
Head to head, the underdog is 3-1-1 ATS in the last five meetings between these two teams. The home team is also 4-0-1 ATS in their last five meetings.
Minnesota’s offense has looked terrible after two preseason games, scoring just a combined 16 points in a total of eight quarters played. Now they are going on the road to take on a Kansas City team that has scored more than 16 points in each of their first two games of the preseason.
Add the fact that KC is at home for this game and they want to show their fans what to expect from them this season. There’s good betting value in going with the home team here.
Prediction: Kansas City Chiefs -4
The total has gone under in four out of the last five preseason games played by Kansas City. The under is also 6-4 in their last 10 home preseason games and 6-4 in their last 10 preseason games as betting favorites.
The total has gone over in four out of the last six preseason games played by the Vikings and the over is also 4-2 in their last six preseason road games. The under is 5-3 in their last eight preseason road games as underdogs.
The preseason under is still dominant up to this point and it’s hard to go against it. Minnesota’s offense has sputtered in two preseason games while the Chiefs have averaged to score only 18 points per game and have not seen a total higher than 35 in their previous preseason action.
These are two teams who already know who their starters will be so look for the backups to play significant minutes. Kansas City’s defense looks to be flexing too right now, allowing just a total of 26 points in two games played. I have to go with the under.
Prediction: Under 38.5
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