The NFL season officially kicks off Thursday night in Kansas City, where the defending champion Chiefs will take on a up-and-coming Lions squad looking to make waves.
The matchup between potential division winners was interesting enough, but has had quite the curveball thrown at it given circumstances surrounding the Chiefs. Kansas City will be without Chris Jones, who’s still holding out due to a contract dispute. It could also be without Travis Kelce, who suffered a knee injury at Tuesday’s practice and should be limited — if he even plays at all.
Those are some pretty important factors to take into consideration, right? Nope, not if you’re part of the betting public.
The Chiefs will enter Arrowhead Stadium as 4.5-point favorites Thursday, at fairly steep fall from the opening line of seven. The slide and factors that influenced it aren’t scaring bettors, though, as 61% of bets and 55% of the handle are still on KC, according to BetMGM Sportsbook data analyst John Ewing.
If the money favoring the Chiefs didn’t convince you the public isn’t concerned with Kelce’s injury, just take a look at the list of most popular prop bets at BetMGM.
Most Bet Props at BetMGM
Travis Kelce to score first touchdown (+650)
Travis Kelce to score anytime touchdown (-125)
Chiefs to win by 7-12 points (+425)
Jahmyr Gibbs over 31.5 receiving yards (-115)
Patrick Mahomes over 2.5 passing touchdowns (+130)
The Lions (+180) do have some supporters when it comes to the moneyline, commanding 75% of bets and 61% of the money. That has almost everything to do with the odds, and little to do with belief that they’ll defeat the Chiefs.
Things will certainly hopefully get interesting at some point, giving us a fun start to the best betting season there is.
