Buffalo Bills vs Kansas City Chiefs Prediction & Betting Tips - NFL

Prediction published on 19/01/2024, 18:30  by Matthew Newman in NFL Prediction

The final game of the playoffs this weekend will be played mainly in the early hours of Monday morning when the Kansas City Chiefs will visit the Buffalo Bills. The last five times these teams have played one another have all come in Kansas. The Bills have won three of those but the Chiefs have won the two that counted in the playoffs. The bye week came at the perfect time for them, 6-6 before that week off before winning their last five games in the regular season and beating the Pittsburgh Steelers at home last week. They won 20-17 in Kansas in the first game after that bye week. A 17-7 lead at one point was clawed back by the Chiefs before the Bills won it with a field goal just after the two-minute warning. The Bills are an incredibly well-balanced team, the 4th best offence and the 6th best defence and beyond that, both their running and passing games are of a similar level. They have so many weapons on both sides of the ball that it was astonishing that they had such a poor start to the season. Flying now and at home, they will strongly fancy their chances of playing in the AFC Championship game. Josh Allen threw for lots of yards this season but only three games in the regular season saw him not throw a pick. He managed to avoid being intercepted last week and needs the same again.

Things have not gone all that well for the Chiefs this season in the defence of their Super Bowl championship. Their saving grace this season has been their defence, giving up the second-fewest points in the league. They were only 16th last season but on the flip side of the coin, the number one offence last season has slipped to only the 15th best this time around. Patrick Mahomes was over a thousand yards shy of last season, throwing 27 touchdowns after 38, 37 and 41 in the preceding three. Add to that an unwanted career high in interceptions and it has been a massively down year for one of the finest players we've seen in the sport in recent times. With his numbers slipping, so have those of his offensive teammates. Travis Kelce had seven years in a row over 1,000 yards until this season, including three over 1,300. They combined for 71 yards last week, the Chiefs' damage coming from four field goals, a run from Isiah Pacheco and a pass from Mahomes to Rashee Rice on their first drive of the game. They cannot afford to get behind in Buffalo unless they find the offence they have been lacking all season.