Monday Night Football will see the San Diego Chargers travel to play the Kansas City Chiefs. The game is scheduled for an 8:30 kickoff and will be televised nationally on ESPN. The Chargers are favored to win the game by 3 points with the total set at 44.5. The Chargers currently sit in first place in the AFC West but are coming off a deflating loss to the New York Jets last week. Kansas City enters tonight's game winners of three straight after being blown out by Detroit and Buffalo to open their season. This is a rematch of a Week 3 matchup where the Chargers were able to win a close 20-17 affair. Obviously both teams are familiar with each other and there is a lot riding on this game.
Free Analysis: We all know that Chargers QB Philip Rivers can wing the ball all over the yard. Kansas City's defense has pretty much been middle of the road this season, but did play well against San Diego in the early part of the season. They forced two interceptions by Rivers in the contest but did give up 375 yards to San Diego. Then again, they were on the field for an extremely long time. Offensively the Chiefs are pretty one-dimensional. They like to run the football and are still one of the better teams in the league at doing so. Defensively, the Chargers aren't the best team in the league at stopping the run (21st at over 121 yards per game) but their secondary has played very well this season. Because of their pass rush up front, the Chargers rank fourth in the league in pass defense. On the other hand, if the Chargers are to win the game tonight they'll have to get some better play from Rivers, who has thrown nine interceptions compared to just seven touchdowns. That's not going to be good enough for this team to continue winning. I'm expecting Kansas City to run the football a lot but not score too many points. I think the Chargers will be able to exploit that Chief secondary and Rivers, who didn't throw a TD pass in the first game, should find the end zone tonight.
Free Pick: I like the Chargers in this game even though they are laying a field goal on the road. I know they only beat Kansas City by a field goal at home last time, but they really didn't play well offensively. Rivers looked bad most of the game and threw two picks. I expect that to change tonight. Anytime a team like the Chiefs run the football all the time, they're going to stay in games. I'm just not sure this team, even on a winning streak of three games to pull even on the season, can win tonight. They are at home and they did hang tough last game, but I like the Chargers tonight coming off a bad loss to the Jets.
Free Picks: Chargers at Chiefs Betting
Chiefs lack of competition and the Effect of second meeting between the teams PLUS other factors NFL bettors need to know about Chargers at Chiefs (Monday, October 31, 2011) from Pregame.com - Including predictions from Marco D'Angelo and analysis from host RJ Bell.