Pittsburgh Steelers at Kansas City Chiefs Spread
The Kansas City Chiefs (4-6) will be trying to snap a three-game losing streak when they host the Pittsburgh Steelers (7-3) Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. Unfortunately, odds makers aren’t giving them much of a chance.
The Chiefs are currently a 10.5-point underdog with the total set at 40.
Just as quickly as Kansas City got back in the AFC West race with a four-game winning streak, it is falling out of contention behind a three-game slide.
The Chiefs were embarrassed 34-3 at New England Monday.
Filling in for the injured Matt Cassel, Tyler Palko completed 25 of 38 passes for 236 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions. Seven of those completions went to Dwayne Bowe, who led the team with 87 receiving yards.
Thomas Jones led the way on the ground with 48 of the team’s 119 rushing yards.
The Steelers, who enter off a bye week, were last in action on Nov. 13 when they won 24-17 on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Ben Roethlisberger connected on 21 of 33 passes for 245 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Five of those passes found the hands of Antonio Brown, who led the Steelers with 86 receiving yards.
Rashard Mendenhall led the rushing attack with 44 yards and two scores on 16 carries.
Despite claiming former Denver Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton off waivers, Palko is expected to get the start again this week. He’ll have to do a better job of taking care of the football if he hopes to lead his team to an upset victory. Fortunately, he’s going up against a defense that hasn’t been very opportunistic. Pittsburgh’s defense has come up with just four interceptions and six total turnovers on the season. Both are league lows.
The Steelers may not come up with a takeaway, but they don’t figure to give up much yardage to a Kansas City offense that ranks 25th in the NFL with 309.4 yards per game.
The Steelers are No. 2 in the league in total defense with 280.1 yards allowed per game. They are No. 4 in scoring defense with 17.9 points per contest.
These two have split the last 10 in the series with the Chiefs winning the most recent one 27-24 at home in overtime on Nov. 22, 2009. The Chiefs, who were an 11-point underdog that day, will be looking to pull off a similar upset Sunday.
Keep in mind Kansas City is 11-3 against the spread in its last 14 games as an underdog of 10.5 points or more.
The Chiefs have played to the under in five straight games, but we could see that streak come to and end here. That’s because these two have combined to finish over the total in five straight meetings.
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