Colts (+6) at Chiefs (Over/Under 57): We can expect the Chiefs to be fresh and sharp of those two Byes over the past two months and after back-to-back losses to the Chargers and Seahawks KC ended the regular season with a confidence building 35-3 blowout tuneup win over Oakland.
The red-hot Colts enter this game having won 10 of their last 11 games, sandwiching a pair of five-game winning streaks around a 6-0 loss at Jacksonville in Week 13. Seven of the wins were against teams that did not make the Playoffs and two others, though on the road, were against flawed Divisional rival Houston, whom the Colts defeated last week.
The lone impressive win over a Playoff team came at home, a 23-0 win over Dallas in Week 15. The Chiefs are in the Playoffs for the fifth time in six seasons with Andy Reid as coach. But they are just 1-4 in those Playoff games including crushing home losses by one and two points the past two seasons.
Perhaps that is what compelled Reid to trade veteran QB Alex Smith in the last off season to turn the offense over the lightly tested and now second year QB Patrick Mahomes. And as we all know that decision has paid immediate dividends as the Chiefs earned the top AFC seed behind Mahomes’ likely MVP season. Their four losses were all to Playoff teams with three of them on the road. Their lone home loss was by one point to their Division rival Chargers. Only two of their seven home wins were by less than 11 points and only their three-point win over Baltimore would not have covered this line.
The Colts will be the fashionable pick to win the AFC next season but their 2018 season likely ends here. CHIEFS and OVER
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