The Kansas City Chiefs are scheduled to pay a visit and face the Tampa Bay Bucs on Sunday Night Football in Week 4 of the 2022 NFL season. It’s a rematch of their Super Bowl 55 meeting in 2021, which was won by the Bucs, 31-9.
The Bucs opened as a 2-point favorite for Sunday’s game, but the line has flipped with the Chiefs now being the pick in the range of 1.5-2.5 points at DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, and PointsBet. But bettors beware: Road favorites are 9-14-1 against the spread this season.
Let’s take a look at the latest Chiefs vs. Bucs odds on Sunday night as well as our prediction.
SNF Odds: Point Spread, Moneyline, Total
Here are Sunday Night Football odds from around the sports betting marketplace as Super Bowl 55 rematch nears.
NFL · Thu (9/7) @ 8:22pm ET
| DET Lions | at | KC Chiefs |
| Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri | ||
Chiefs-Bucs Super Bowl 55 Rematch on SNF
Both teams are 2-1 but are coming off defeats as a favorite: Kansas City 20-17 vs. the winless Colts in Indianapolis, and Tampa Bay fell 14-12 at home to QB Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay.
In an important side note, the football world is keeping an eye on Hurricane Ian, a Category 4 storm as of midday Wednesday that’s bearing down on Florida’s Gulf Coast and TB’s Raymond James Stadium. As it currently stands, the game will be played at Raymond James Stadium as originally scheduled. In the meantime, the Bucs have moved their operations to Miami to get ready for this game.
For the second straight week, Bucs QB Tom Brady will vie against a fellow former MVP, this time Patrick Mahomes.
But Brady, who led the league in passing yards last year, is not having an MVP-type season. He has played with a depleted receiving corps and stands 22nd on the QB chart with 224.3 yards a game. That’s a career low.
And speaking of career lows, in KC’s Super Bowl loss two seasons ago, Mahomes had the crummiest passer rating of his career (52.3) as the Chiefs failed to score a touchdown.
As speaking of Mahomes, he’s playing this year for the first time without speedy WR Tyreek Hill (traded to Miami). But the QB is averaging more yards per throw in 2022 than last season (7.9 vs. 7.4) while having a norm of 285.7 yards a game, the eighth best in the league. Thus, he appears to be coping.
But in general, the offense is not humming along as usual. After scoring six TDs in the season-opening 44-21 win at Arizona, KC has a total of four in the past two, with its touchdowns at Indy coming after taking possession at the Colts’ 35 and 21. The Chiefs’ previous eight TDs drives ranged from 66 to 86 yards.
But it’s been worse for Tampa Bay, which has only three offensive TDs all season, tied for worst in the league. By comparison, last year the Bucs led the league with 61. But at least the Bucs will get receiving help this week with the return of star WR Mike Evans, who was suspended for last week’s game after his on-field skirmish in New Orleans in Week 2. Ex-Falcons star WR Julio Jones should be returning, too. He’s probable (knee) after missing two games with a knee issue.
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Chiefs vs. Bucs SNF Prediction
It’s peculiar that the Bucs abandoned their running game last week, with only 14 carries and 12 coming from bulldozing RB Leonard Fournette.
And such a scenario could well play out again as KC is yielding only 3.6 yards a carry, the fifth-best rate in the league.
As for the Chiefs, there’s upheaval at place-kicker with Harrison Butker dealing with an ankle injury that likely will keep him out a third straight game. On Monday, KC gave the heave-ho to his replacement, Matt Amendola, a day after he missed a PAT try and a chip-shot FG. This week, the Chiefs signed ex-Jacksonville PK Matthew Wright in case Butker can’t go. And with the likelihood of Tampa Bay’s grass field being pretty slick, Butker should be kept out of harm’s way.
In summary, there have been reports of dysfunction with the offense. And that heralded Bucs defense isn’t impenetrable as the Packers scored on their first two drives last week and would have done so on the third, too, if not for a fumble at the TB 1-yard line.
So, if KC has even the slightest bit of improvement in the kicking game, if they don’t fumble the ball away at their 4 like last week at Indy, and if DT Chris Jones doesn’t get another taunting penalty that keeps a TD drive alive, the Chiefs should prevail.
Prediction: Chiefs 21, Bucs 9
Bookmark this: See reviews of the best NFL betting sites | Super Bowl 57 odds
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