2021 NFL Week 3 Betting Primer: Best Over/Under, Spread, Teaser and Prop Bets

Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs

Over/Under: 54.5

Kickoff: 1:00 p.m. ET

TV: CBS

Wanna know how rare it is when Patrick Mahomes loses a game in the regular season? It’s only happened nine times in his three years as the starter. And only twice has he lost in back-to-back weeks!

That sets the stage in today’s Week 3 division showdown for the reigning AFC champs. When Mahomes is coming off an uncharacteristic loss, he’s on the warpath.

Should we be surprised? Of course not. As I maintain time in and time out, this is sports’ Michael Jordan of the current generation. And as such, Mahomes indeed comes out pissed following an L.

After the previous eight in-season defeats during his career, not only has Mahomes regularly lit up the opposition with a shiny 109.3 passer rating in such games, KC is also lighting up the scoreboard at a rate of 31.9 points per game. He’s all business.

Though it’s “only” a sample size of three years, it’s still telling how consistent Mahomes and the Chiefs have been in these particular spots, never failing to score fewer than 24 points. Thus, we can count on another sensational outing today from the recent former Super Bowl MVP.

The Chargers, meanwhile, have participated in only a pair of low-scoring affairs thus far; winning 20-16 at Washington in the opener before eating a 20-17 defeat to the Cowboys last week.

But let’s be real: Los Angeles isn’t going to stop Mahomes. Like MJ, you can only hope to contain him, and thusly, we can still count on the Chiefs to pace a higher-scoring game script. The Chargers’ low-scoring outputs so far have had nothing to do with second-year standout Justin Herbert, who comfortably topped the 300-yard plateau in his club’s two bouts.

In two meetings with the reigning AFC West leaders during his rookie campaign last year, Herbert shined and surpassed 300 yards in each of those dates as well.

We know what kind of momentous performance we’ll get from Kansas City today. The key will be what Herbert can do, and given his strong beginning to the season in which he’s picked up from where he left off as a freshman, the Chargers appear like they can at least hang in there.

Since this one could be close from the over/under perspective, I’m buying a half-point in case of a 34-20/30-24 outcome. Pick: OVER 54 (-120)