As I wrote in last week’s column, we are about to have quite the wild schedule ahead of us. Because of that, I took the same approach to the early portion of my weekly analysis and simply couldn’t want for too much confirmation that would form later in the week.
Also, in the extremely unlikely event that something changes so drastically before Sunday’s games that I feel compelled to make a change, I will note it both in the introduction and in the writeup itself. I usually only reserve this for the final week of the season — so I’ll write a similar note in the next column — and, over all the years, I think I can remember only changing one or two picks after publishing them. It just doesn’t happen.
The other oddity is that I am locking in spreads even earlier this week than usual, so there might be some more differences than usual by the time the games start. All of the spreads listed in this column are as per noon eastern on 12/24/24.
With that, we move into the somewhat-truncated-but-still-fun-holiday-edition of these picks!
Below are predictions for each game against the spread. Spreads have been taken from various websites and are subject to change. The spread in parenthesis denotes the selected team. Spread is listed as advertised number and odds at either DraftKings Sportsbook, FanDuel Sportsbook, Caesars Sportsbook, or Fanatics Sportsbook (formerly PointsBet). All efforts were made to provide picks at -110 or better, with some stretching to a -125 if no reasonable advertised spread was found.
*Confidence Picks – 2024 Season: 54-51 (Last Week: 5-2)
(2023 Season: 63-61-4) (2022 Season: 54-54-5) (2021 Season: 55-50) (2020 Season: 53-42-3) (2019 Season: 57-43-3) (2018 Season: 63-48-4) (2017 Season: 53-48-4) (2016 Season: 53-67-3) (2015 Season: 69-45-2) (2014 Season: 61-46-2) (10-Year Total: 581-504-30)
All Picks Against Spread – 2024 Season: 127-112-1 (Last Week: 9-7)
(2023 Season: 142-135-8) (2022 Season: 143-132-9) (2021 Season: 158-126-2) (2020 Season: 132-128-7) (2019 Season: 142-118-7) (2018 Season: 137-118-12) (2017 Season: 137-119-11) (2016 Season: 123-136-8) (2015 Season: 143-117-7) (2014 Season: 149-114-4) (10-Year Total: 1406-1243-75)
Kansas City Chiefs at Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers have stopped looking like themselves since securing yet another winning season, going 1-2 in that span, dropping their last two games, and missing out on clinching their tight division still with two weeks left to play. As a result, they get the privilege of hosting a Kansas City Chiefs team that might only now be resembling its own prior version.
That last part should be a surprise to absolutely nobody. One of the common talking point surrounding the defending Super Bowl Champions is that they have followed this same pattern for years. The Chiefs always have the threat of exploding because of the talent found under center — and usually strewn throughout the skill positions — but the football-watching world often takes a wait-and-see approach with the defense. Now, we’re about to close out the year and Kansas City ranks in the top-five for points and yards allowed. All while racking up 14 wins in 15 games.
More importantly,
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