2005 Kansas City Chiefs NFL Handicapping Review Part 2

 

By Tom Wilkinson

 

The highly touted 2004 Kansas City Chiefs headed home after getting beaten badly in Denver to start their season but few of their fans, or those within the sports handicapping community, were very worried because the Chiefs’ traditional ace hole card was their home, Arrowhead Stadium, where they were to host Carolina and Houston. It was expected that Arrowhead would set the Chiefs straight and back on course for their super bowl run.

The Chiefs were shocked in their home opener, losing to the defending NFC champion Carolina Panthers 17-28 as 6.5-point chalks. Why so many in the sports handicapping fraternity blindly assumed KC would cover that number against a quality opponent is perplexing. But what happened the following week was even more disturbing.

With a 0-2 start KC could not afford another slip up as they hosted lightly regarded Houston. Many members of the sports handicapping community pointed to this game as the top game on their list of football picks against the sports betting odds. Many online sports betting players posted that the Chiefs were a “lock” to tear apart the Texans, yet the Texans won the game straight up 24-21 as KC fell to 0-3 both straight up and against the sports betting odds, and was now 2-9 against the sports betting line in their last 11 games dating back to 2003.

After a gutsy win at Baltimore on a Monday Night, many sports betting players felt that the Chiefs were ready to take off, but they let down many members of the sports handicapping community in their next game at Jacksonville, a 16-22 loss as 2.5-point chalks.

Still, the Chiefs would suck in more sports betting players into more traps. After clobbering both Atlanta (56-10) and Indianapolis (45-35) at home the Chiefs started converting sports handicapping believers again as they traveled to struggling Tampa Bay. Many online sports betting blogs posted that the Chiefs were on their way back and would roll over Tampa, easily covering the 3.5 points as chalks. But KC blew a lot of bankrolls with a 31-34 loss that, for all intents and purposes, killed their season for good. The loss at Tampa began a stretch run of 6 losses in 9 games against the sports betting odds for Kansas City as they finished 7-9 straight up and 6-10 against the sports betting odds for the season. Dating back to their peak in mid 2003, KC has gone just 8-16 against the sports betting odds since.