Kansas City Chiefs vs Las Vegas Raiders Prediction & Betting Tips - NFL

Prediction published on 23/12/2023, 13:00  by Matthew Newman | Modified on 23/12/2023 at 14:51 in NFL Predictions

An early evening game on Christmas Day will see the 6-8 Las Vegas Raiders head to Kansas to take on the 9-5 Chiefs. The Chiefs won 31-17 in Vegas at the end of November but have continued to be inconsistent since in their bid to retain their Super Bowl trophy. That prior meeting saw Patrick Mahomes throw for 291 yards and two touchdowns, his largest yardage gained in the Chiefs' last seven games. That was backed up by a pair of rushing touchdowns from Isiah Pacheco despite the fact he only managed 55 yards rushing in total. The Raiders would take a 14-0 lead but their defence was unable to hold off Kansas. After a 6-1 start, the Chiefs have only gone 3-4 since, including home losses to the Philadelphia Eagles and the Buffalo Bills. While there is no disgrace in those, they would have been expected to beat anyone at Arrowhead. They will still fancy their chances of doubling up from last year's triumph and they have made hay against the Raiders in recent seasons. Although they have not been quite so strong on the offensive side of the ball, they have been much stronger defensively and that will continue to stand them in good stead.

It's hard to know which Raiders are going to turn up. They lost a game to the Minnesota Vikings 3-0 two weeks back and then came out to beat the Los Angeles Chargers 63-21! On only one other occasion this season they put up more than 21 points so the chances are that the Chargers game was a blip but perhaps that will give them the confidence they need. They picked up a win on the road at the Denver Broncos in their first game of the season but have lost all five that they have played away from Vegas since. 3-3 since Antonio Pierce took over as the interim coach following the Josh McDaniels sacking, they rallied around well last week but this is going to be a very different task for them. Their run game is much improved, but the Chiefs are one of eight teams who have only given up single-figure rushing touchdowns this season. They lost by 14 points when these teams met in November but can keep it closer here.