NFL Week 17 picks against the spread

Oakland Raiders @ Kansas City Chiefs (-13.5)

This one should be an easy pick, but Jon Gruden is making this much harder than it need to be. He is taking this Raiders team beyond what we thought possible, to being winners. However, out of their 11 losses, they’ve lost eight by at least 14 points. One of those losses wasn’t against the Chiefs in November, where they were motivated enough to only lose by seven.

The Chiefs are coming off another surprise loss, this time against the Seattle Seahawks in CenturyLink Field. Now, they really need to win this game. If they lose, they might have to go back to New England where they lost to the Patriots for the first time all season. They really want the number one overall seed in the AFC, because that game goes much differently in Kansas City.

Here’s the real reason why you need to pick Kansas City. The Raiders have nothing to play for. Last week, they were motivated by having their last game in the city of Oakland. Against the Steelers, they wanted to beat a good team this season. There is a rivalry here, and we saw Gruden trying to beat that horse, but on the road for the last game of the season on a dead-horse team, the Raiders just don’t have enough to keep this game close.

Kansas City 35, Oakland 13

Chicago Bears @ Minnesota Vikings (-4.5)

The last time the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears went head to head, a hit to Mitch Trubisky knocked him out for a few weeks, giving the ball to backup Chase Daniel. If that happens again, the Bears season could be ending earlier than they expected. This might be a revenge game for Trubisky, but is that really something to be scared of? Trubisky has been average at best since returning from his shoulder injury.

Meanwhile, the only chance for the Vikings to make something of this season is to win this game and make it into the playoffs. If they win, then they are in. If they lose and the Eagles win, then their disappoint seasons hit a plateau by their players going home in December. After spending all the money to bring in Kirk Cousins to a team that was one game away from a Super Bowl would be insanely disappointing.

This is a hard line to predict. The Vikings should win this game, but the Bears can clinch a first-round bye with a win and a Rams loss. That means there is something on the line here for Trubisky and company. This is just too high a line, and one should take the better team in the Bears.

Minnesota 20, Chicago 17