Lions vs. Chiefs Point Spread: NFL Pre-Season Week 2 Odds, Prediction
The Chiefs are listed as 6.5-point favourites on the NFL odds.
NFL Preseason Point Spread and Betting
You may remember these clubs opened the 2023 regular season in Kansas City in the annual Kickoff Game, and we immediately found out how much better Detroit was going to be last year thanks to a 21-20 upset of the defending Super Bowl champions. We nearly saw a rematch in February in Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas but Detroit blew a 17-point third-quarter lead in the NFC title game in San Francisco and lost 34-31. Kansas City then repeated by knocking off the 49ers in overtime.
Detroit Lions
If Lions coach Dan Campbell was considering playing any of his starters this week, he might have been scared off by the hamstring injury suffered by electric second-year running back Jahmyr Gibbs in practice on Monday. As of now, it’s not thought to be overly serious, but we won’t see Gibbs in action now until at least Week 1 of the regular season. Gibbs has said his goal this year was to become the fourth player in NFL history to record 1,000 yards receiving and 1,000 yards rushing in the same season.
No starters played in Detroit’s preseason-opening 14-3 loss at the Giants with Nate Sudfeld (8-for-15, 92 yards, INT) and Hendon Hooker (5-for-9, 36 yards) taking all the snaps at quarterback. It was Hooker’s first game action since tearing his ACL two years ago at the University of Tennessee when he was a 2022 Heisman Trophy contender. He is battling Sudfeld for the backup job. No. 1 QB Jared Goff isn’t expected to see any preseason action. Detroit’s rookies made their NFL debut against the Giants, including top two picks Terrion Arnold (first round) and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. (second), who both started the game at the two outside cornerback spots. But both were injured at practice this week as well. Campbell is 3-7 in the preseason as Lions coach.
Kansas City Chiefs
Perhaps no team in the NFL has more of a reason NOT to play any starters in the preseason than the Chiefs considering how much extra football they have played in recent seasons with so many deep playoff runs. Plus, they have a Hall of Fame coach in Andy Reid and not really many starting spots up for grabs. One thing Reid doesn’t like is joint practices so he did play many starters, including superstar QB Patrick Mahomes, briefly in the preseason-opening 26-13 loss in Jacksonville. But perhaps Reid got scared off as well for this week with projected starting receiver Marquise Brown dislocating his shoulder in the loss. He won’t return before Week 1 of the regular season if then but will not need surgery.
One weak spot for Kansas City last year was its play at receiver so it signed Brown and drafted speedster Xavier Worthy at No. 28 overall in Round 1 this year. Worthy didn’t have a catch in his debut. Second-round draft pick Kingsley Suamataia started at left tackle and played the entire first drive, which ended with the Chiefs kicking a field goal. Reid is 46-48 in his preseason career.