The Denver Broncos have had two previous opportunities to win a 10th game of the season and progress to the playoffs. They have come up short on both attempts so will be hoping to make it third time lucky when they face the Kansas City Chiefs in the final round of the season.
The Chiefs have already sewn up the #1 seed in the AFC so are expected to rest the majority of their starters on Sunday, with star quarterback Patrick Mahomes definitely sitting out for this game, and Carson Wentz starting in his place.
Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, Trent McDuffie, Drue Tranquill, George Karlaftis, Nick Bolton, Justin Reed and Kareem Hunt have all been listed as questionable for Kansas City so look likely to miss out.
The Broncos will be desperate to take advantage of an understrength Chiefs team and book their ticket to the playoffs.
Bo Nix over 1.5 passing touchdowns - 4/5
A record six quarterbacks were taken in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft and Bo Nix was the last of them off the board, going 12th to the Denver Broncos.
However, 24-year-old has had the most impressive rookie season of that group. He has started all 16 games and has thrown for 3,454 yards along with 25 touchdowns, a tally that puts him in the top 10 in the league.
He has thrown for at least two touchdowns in six of his last seven games, except for a below-par performance against the Cleveland Browns in early December.
With a strong arm and good scrambling, Nix has become an almost perfect playmaker for Sean Payton's offense and is fancied to have at least two touchdown passes in this clash, particularly against an understrength Kansas City defense.
Courtland Sutton anytime touchdown scorer - 5/4
Nix's primary weapon this season has been receiver Courtland Sutton and with their season on the line, expect the quarterback to target his star man plenty of times in this game.
Over his last nine games, Sutton has 81 targets, 55 receptions for 706 receiving yards, and five touchdowns.
He also has previous against this Kansas City defense, finding the end zone and registering a total of 70 receiving yards in the first meeting this season with the Chiefs, which was a narrow 16-14 defeat for the Broncos.
The 29-year-old has double the receiving yards of his next closest teammate and almost double the number of touchdowns of his next closest teammate.
Sutton is clearly Denver's go-to man and is fancied to score once more in this crucial encounter.
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Money Line | Spread | Over/Under | |
Broncos | -11 – 10/11 | Under 40 – 10/11 | |
Chiefs | +11 – 10/11 | Over 40 - 10/11 |
Kansas City Chiefs +11 - 10/11
The Denver Broncos are rightful favourites for this game and should be able to progress to the playoffs with a win but the thought that their divisional rivals are just going to roll over for them is fanciful.
The Kansas City Chiefs are resting plenty of starters but Wentz is no slouch as a backup quarterback. He threw for three touchdowns in the last game of the 2023 season for the Los Angeles Rams and led the Philadelphia Eagles to a title in the recent past.
The Chiefs have won 17 of the last 18 meetings between these two teams and even if the Broncos are ahead, they may rest up their own stars with one eye on the playoffs, meaning it is worth siding with Kansas City to keep this respectable, take the defending champions +11 on the spread.
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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.