Chiefs come through, big favorites don’t cover and more NFL betting news from Week 12

After going 11-0 in one-score games during the 2024 season, the fortunes pendulum swung all the way back. kansas city chiefsWho entered Sunday 0-5 in one-score games for 2025. But the sportsbooks never lost faith in Kansas City and on Sunday, the Chiefs finally reversed the narrative, defeating them. indianapolis colts 23-20.

Despite a 5-5 record, KC entered Sunday’s action against the 8-2 Colts as a 4.5-point favorite and were -190 to make the playoffs, according to ESPN BET odds, while statistically looking out of the playoff picture. Bookmakers understand the potential of a team only when patrick mahomes And Andy Reid, however, was particularly involved knowing that bookmakers were prepared to support him.

“The Kansas City Chiefs remain highly regarded in our power rankings, despite their mediocre record showing minimal activity week-to-week,” Joey Feasel, head of football at Caesars Sportsbook, told ESPN over email. “The bookmakers are heavily favoring them as if the result is already decided and today’s performance showed why that is.”

Even after Week 11 action, when the Chiefs fell denver broncosThe Kansas City Caesars were the second-most supported team and were still considered one of BetMGM’s biggest Super Bowl liabilities, reflecting bettors’ confidence in the team and sportsbooks’ justified hesitancy toward increasing their odds too high.

Although the Chiefs were eventually able to snap a one-point losing streak, they still did not cover the favored spread, causing their ATS record to fall to 5–6. According to ESPN Research, Kansas City is 1-6 ATS against teams with a winning record.

Parley is strong in the initial slate

During Sunday’s opening slate, all seven favorites won their games outright, but only took the lead in two contests. This will prove to be a boon and a curse for sportsbooks.

Faizal said, “The morning slate was not ideal for the book, as all the favorites made money on the moneyline.” “When that happens, the parlay handle becomes a factor as many bettors like to pile heavy favorites into a ticket, and those parlays paid off this Sunday.”

That said, the books were able to make some money on the dispensaries covering the spread. BetMGM trading manager Christian Cipollini said that bettors are “not afraid of big favorites,” in particular, new England Patriots (-7.5) and detroit lions (-14), which recorded a close win against cincinnati bengals And New York GiantsRespectively. Baltimore Ravens (-14.5) and Seattle Seahawks (-11.5) also got good support at Caesars and DraftKings.

All three double-digit favorites failed to cover the spread on Sunday.

odds & Ends

• dallas cowboys were long at +1300 on the live moneyline before they were beaten by 24 unanswered points philadelphia eagles24-21.

• Hard Rock Bet posted its full menu shadure sanders Props for his early debut during cleveland browns‘Win 24-10 las vegas raidersSeagers said the game saw “relatively light action” overall, but the book owed Sanders more than 161,5 passing yards to the prop, which he capitalized on with 209 on the day,

• Chalk’s outright win meant there weren’t too many eliminations in the $1,000-per-entry Circa Survivor competition, with four of the five most popular picks (Ravens, Seahawks, Lions, and Packers) all up to the task; Most Popular Pick of the Week – The san francisco 49ers I will try to complete it on Monday night against — carolina panthers,

college football odds and ends

• saturday’s missouri,oklahoma The game turned into a Pros-versus-Jos showdown, involving significant line movement. The Sooners started as 9.5-point favorites, but the line crashed as influential bookmakers favored the underdog Tigers during the week. The line dropped as low as -3.5 at some sportsbooks before Saturday’s kickoff in Norman, a dramatic adjustment for this point in the season. However, the line movement was opposite to betting support. Oklahoma was the most popular bet on the board at DraftKings and BetMGM – both by number of bets and amount of bets. This time the Joes got the better of the Pros, with the Sooners winning 17–6.

• texas techOwning the best record (10-1 ATS) against the spread in college football, trying to become the first team since 2012 Northwestern To cover a spread of at least 11 games during a regular season. The Red Raiders are the first Power 5 team to cover the spread in 10 of their first 11 games. colorado In 2016. Texas Tech began the week as a 21.5-point road favorite over West Virginia in Saturday’s season-finale.

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