The second week of the NFL preseason is upon us, and two teams who have yet to pick up their first win of the year will do battle in the Midwest on Saturday when the Detroit Lions visit the Kansas City Chiefs.
While Detroit will play things conservatively to protect its best players from injury, it looks like Andy Reid is set to give his starters plenty of run this weekend in preparation for the regular season. Will that lead to a big win?
Let's get right into it with our Lions vs. Chiefs predictions and NFL picks for August 17.
Lions vs Chiefs prediction
My best bet
Chiefs -7 (-112 at DraftKings)
My analysis
The Saturday outlook for the Kansas City Chiefs looks rosy. Andy Reid told reporters this week that he plans to play all of his healthy starters for the first half before sending in the subs, and even if he pulls them slightly before halftime (as he did the last time he said this), you’d still have to favor Kansas City by a wide margin over the Detroit Lions' backups.
The Chiefs are set to deploy one of the game’s best offenses over the past few seasons against a Lions secondary that ranked 30th in yards per attempt allowed through the air. Making matters even more arduous for Detroit is the fact that it’ll be down two corners in Ennis Rakestraw Jr. and Emmanuel Moseley, making a struggling secondary even worse.
It’s true that the Lions brought the heat with their pass rush a season ago and have only strengthened that group, but the Chiefs will have all of their starters on an offensive line ranked seventh entering the season according to Pro Football Focus. On top of that, Dan Campbell has already said that he doesn’t expect many of his starters to see action in this one, which would seem to put the Detroit defense in a world of trouble.
Behind Patrick Mahomes is Carson Wentz, a quarterback who’s had success at the highest level and should provide competence against inexperienced third and fourth-stringers for Detroit. The Lions, meanwhile, will counter with Nate Sudfeld to start followed by volatile rookie Hendon Hooker, creating a world of potential for the Chiefs’ starting defense to force plenty of turnovers in the first half.
In the preseason, who is playing and who is not turns out to be the majority of what goes into a handicap. You have to love the Chiefs to run away with this one considering the potential that we see all of their starters for two quarters in a game which already presented a great mismatch with the Lions secondary. They should pick up a head of steam early and a Sudfeld-Hooker duo won’t be able to do much to catch them.
Lions vs Chiefs odds
Lions vs Chiefs live odds
Lions vs Chiefs opening odds
- Spread: Detroit +3 | Kansas City -3
- Moneyline: Detroit +144 | Kansas City -170
- Over/Under: Over 38 | Under 38
Lions vs Chiefs betting trend to know
These teams combined to go 5-1 to the Over in last year’s preseason. Find more NFL betting trends for Giants vs Texans.
Lions vs Chiefs game info
| Location: | Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO |
| Date: | Saturday, 8-17-2024 |
| Kickoff: | 4:00 p.m. ET |
| TV: | NFL+ |
Lions vs Chiefs weather
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