Best Bets Monday Night Football: Chiefs vs Broncos

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL IS BACK. And apparently the NFL decided Patrick Mahomes’ first game back should be against the team that stole his division. The Broncos walk into Arrowhead on Monday night as the defending AFC West champs after going 14-3, taking the No. 1 seed, and sweeping Kansas City for the first time since 2014. Denver has now won four of the last five against the Chiefs. Kansas City went 6-11, missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014, and watched its nine-year run atop the AFC West officially die. Now everybody gets a clean slate. And Patrick Mahomes is back. Nine months after tearing his ACL and LCL, Mahomes has been a full participant in practice and is on track to start under the lights at Arrowhead. Kansas City added Kenneth Walker III, brought L’Jarius Sneed back, and gets Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy into Week 1 as full practice participants. The problem: starting left tackle Josh Simmons hasn’t practiced, meaning an already terrifying Denver pass rush could spend Monday night staring at an inexperienced replacement protecting Mahomes’ blind side. On the other side, Denver basically brought everybody back. Bo Nix returns healthy. Jaylen Waddle makes his Broncos debut. Denver returns 21 of 22 starters from a team that won 14 games, and the defense is coming off a season in which it piled up 68 sacks. Sean Payton is also 3-0 on Monday Night Football since taking over in Denver. 8:15 p.m. ET. ESPN and ABC. Arrowhead. AFC West champs against the team that owned the division for nearly a decade. Mahomes’ comeback against one of the nastiest defenses in football. Bo Nix trying to prove last year wasn’t a one-off. Kansas City is laying about 2.5 with the total sitting around 43.5. One possession. Divisional game. Week 1. We give our pick for Broncos–Chiefs, our same-game parlay, and two sneaky props to close out the first week of the NFL season. No more preseason reports. No more “he looks great in camp.” Patrick Mahomes is back. The Broncos have the crown. And somebody has to leave Arrowhead 0-1. Don’t take Monday Night Football for granted because somehow we’re going to blink and it’ll be Thanksgiving. Drop your favorite bet for Broncos–Chiefs in the comments. 🏈 LUCY is the only pouch that delivers long lasting, on demand flavor. Get 20% off your first order when you buy online at lucy.co/PHONE with code PHONE. 0:00 Intro 0:16 Matchup Preview: Broncos @ Chiefs 3:52 Game Pick: Chiefs -2.5 6:45 Lucy Ad Read 7:28 2-Leg Same Game Parlay 10:41 BetMGM 11:08 Sketchy Props: Bo Nix & Mahomes Rushing Yards 12:39 First Touchdown Scorer: Patrick Mahomes 14:37 Outro / Season Preview Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices