Case of the Mondays: Chiefs Lose AFC West Lead to Raiders

by Ricky Dimon - 12/19/2016

The AFC West has been going back and forth the last few weeks. Surprisingly, the defending champion Denver Broncos have not been involved. They saw their playoff chances take a huge hit on Sunday with a loss to the New England Patriots, while the Kansas City Chiefs fell at home to the Tennessee Titans and were overtaken at the top spot in the division by the Oakland Raiders. Speaking of getting overtaken, things have gone south in a hurry for Minnesota Vikings.

All odds provided by BetOnline Sportsbook.

Kansas City Chiefs . The Titans are no pushovers, but a home game against them gave Kansas City a good opportunity to win for the ninth time in its last 10 outings. That is how it looked, too, almost the entire way. The Chiefs led 14-0 after one quarter and by a 17-7 margin heading into the fourth. But their second-half drives went punt, interception, punt, punt, punt to allow the visitors to claw their way back. Tennessee eventually prevailed 19-17 on a 53-year field goal as time expired by Ryan Succop, who nailed it amidst windy, freezing conditions. The wind chill was minus-19 at kickoff, making it the coldest game at Arrowhead Stadium since the team started keeping track of temperatures in 1994. The Chiefs are now 10-4 and one game behind Oakland, which scraped past the San Diego Chargers 19-16. Kansas City is a -4 home favorite over Denver on Christmas Day.

Adrian Peterson . Peterson returned to play for the Vikings for the first time since Week 2. He might as well have declined. Having recovered from another knee injury, Peterson suited up against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday but finished with six carries for 22 yards and one catch for one yard. He also lost a fumble in Minnesota's 34-6 home loss. Once 5-0 and dominating the NFC North, the Vikings now find themselves at 7-7. They are two games behind the Detroit Lions in the division and three other teams are ahead of them in the wild-card standings. Minnesota is a +7 underdog at the Green Bay Packers in Week 16.

Stanford . Not long after Leonard Fournette announced that he would not play in LSU's bowl game to instead focus on preparing for the NFL Draft, fellow star running back Christian McCaffrey did the same on Sunday. McCaffrey posted on Twitter that he will skip the Sun Bowl, in which Stanford is facing North Carolina on Dec. 30. "Very tough decision, but I have decided not to play in the Sun Bowl so I can begin my draft prep immediately," McCaffrey wrote. "Thx to all my teammates for their 100% support -- It means a lot to me. Go Cardinal!" The junior, who finished second in the 2015 Heisman Trophy voting, had 1,603 rushing yards and 16 total touchdowns this season. Stanford is a -3 favorite over the Tar Heels.

Blake Griffin . The Los Angeles Clippers' power forward will be out at least until January because of minor right-knee surgery. Griffin (21.2 ppg, 8.8 rpg) is scheduled for the "cleanup" procedure early this week. He had mostly been playing through the issue but missed a Dec. 10 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. Los Angeles had won four in a row before losing at the Washington Wizards on Sunday. Doc Rivers' squad is 20-8 and in fourth place in the Western Conference. The Clippers are +1400 to win the NBA title.

New Jersey Devils . The good news for the Devils is that they are not the worst team in the Eastern Conference. That distinction belongs to the New York Islanders, mainly because they have lost five games in a row. But New Jersey's losing streak is even longer as it dropped its sixth decision in succession with a 3-2 shootout loss at the New York Rangers on Sunday. The Devils had lost their previous five games without taking a single point, and all five of those setbacks came by at least two goals. They have been outscored 25-8 during this skid. New Jersey is 12-12-7 (31 points) and tied for second to last in the East. It is +4000 to win the conference; the Pittsburgh Penguins are +400 favorites.

North Carolina . The Tar Heels are off to a respectable 10-2 start this season, but they are 10-0 in their 10 easiest games and 0-2 against college basketball's blue bloods. After falling at Indiana 76-67 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge earlier this month, North Carolina lost a 103-100 thriller against Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic in Las Vegas this past Saturday. UNC trailed most of the way before taking a 98-95 lead on a Justin Jackson three-pointer with 1:35 remaining. The Heels also led 100-98 only to see Kentucky take the lead for good on a three-pointer by Malik Monk with 19 seconds left. Monk finished with 47 points to pace the Wildcats. UK is +800 to win the National Championship.

Arsenal . A crucial showdown between two of the top four clubs on the English Premier League table took place between Arsenal and Manchester City on Sunday, and it did not end well for the Gunners. The visitors got off to a strong start at Etihad Stadium with a goal in the fifth minute, but it all fell apart for them in the second half. Man City notched the equalizer in the 47^th minute and put the eventual game-winner into the back of the net 24 minutes later. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger blasted the officials afterward, saying each of the Sky Blues' tallies should have been disallowed because of offside. The Gunners had been in second place in the Premier League, one point ahead of City. Now they are tied for the third with the Sky Blues in second behind Chelsea. Manchester City is +1000 to win the Champions League.

Start:	November 23, 2024 @ 2:30 PM
Expert:	Tony George
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