The Patriots come in as the Super Bowl 52 Betting Odds favorite.

NFL Betting Predictions to Win the 2018 AFC Championship

Written by on January 5, 2018

If you’re fired up about the start of the 2018 playoffs and you’re wondering whether or not anyone can dethrone Tom Brady and the New England Patriots as conference champions, then you’ve come to the right place! Thanks to the expert NFL betting analysis and predictions that you’re about to get, based on the AFC Championship odds, you’re going to have a great idea of just which team, if any, can take down Brady and the perennially powerful Pats to represent the AFC in Super Bowl 52.

NFL Betting Predictions to Win the 2018 AFC Championship

No. 6 Buffalo Bills vs. No. 3 Jacksonville Jaguars

  • When: Sunday, January 7, 2018, 1:05 PM ET
  • Where: EverBank Field, Jacksonville, FL
  • TV: CBS
  • Radio: 550 AM (Buffalo) / 92.1 FM (Jacksonville)
  • Streaming Option: NFL Live
  • NFL Betting Spread: Jacksonville Jaguars -9 (Over/Under at 39.5 points)
The Bills (9-7 SU, 9-6-1 ATS) will take on the Jaguars (10-6 SU, 9-7 ATS) in their AFC wild-card opener on Sunday and I fully expect Jacksonville to win and advance seeing as how they are the superior team on both sides of the ball. While I’m not real fond of Jags quarterback Blake Bortles who has been, for an absolute disappointment after being picked third overall in the 2014 NFL Draft and I believe the Bills have the big edge with veteran Tyrod Taylor being a much better leader and one with a dual-threat skill-set, Jacksonville really is the better team on both side of the ball as they finished fifth in scoring and second in points allowed. The Bills need more playmakers besides Taylor and Pro Bowl running back LeSean McCoy and I just can’t get past the fact that head coach in Sean McDermott actually believed fifth-round rookie quarterback Nathan Peterman was actually better than veteran starter Tyrod Taylor – until Peterman threw five picks in one half against the Chargers. Jacksonville will pound Buffalo’s defense with their rushing attack led by Leonard Fournette while mostly shutting down Taylor and McCoy to get the win.

No. 5 Tennessee Titans vs. No. 4 Kansas City Chiefs

  • When: Saturday, January 6 at 4:35 PM EST
  • Where: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City
  • TV: ESPN
  • Radio: 92.9 FM (Tennessee) / 1350 AM (Kansas City)
  • Live Stream: Watch ESPN
  • NFL Betting Odds: Kansas City Chiefs -8 (Over/Under at 44.5)
All you really need to know about this Saturday AFC wild-card clash is that Tennessee (9-7 SU, 8-7-1 ATS) lost three of their final four games before beating an uninterested Jacksonville team in their finale to get in while Kansas City (10-6 SU, 10-6 ATS) hits the playoffs on a nice roll, having won four straight. Oh, and then there’s the fact that the Titans actually gave up more points per game (22.2 ppg, 17th) than they averaged during the regular season (20.9 ppg, 19th), combined with the fact that Kansas City has a handful of dangerous weapons on offense at veteran quarterback Alex Smith’s disposal and a handful of outstanding defensive players starting with Pro Bowl cornerback Marcus Peters. After the Jags and Chiefs win, Jacksonville will head to Pittsburgh to take on the second-seeded Steelers (13-3 SU, 7-9 ATS) in what should be an entertaining affair seeing as how the Jags absolutely overpowered the Steelers in their stunning 30-9 Week 5 blowout of the Steelers in Pittsburgh no less. Kansas City is at the top of our NFL Betting Predictions to win the AFC. For the rematch, however, I’ve got to believe that Pittsburgh is going to hold it down at home, likely by shutting down Jacksonville’s rushing attack and forcing Blake Bortles to beat them through the air, which, he just won’t be able to do. I’m thinking the Steelers win a hard-fought battle, be a score somewhere in the neighborhood of 27-17 or 27-20.

Rest of the Way

With Kansas City heading to New England to take on the top-seeded Patriots (13-3 SU, 11-5 ATS) in the other divisional round matchup, I’m holding out some hope – or maybe it’s just a lot of freaking wishful thinking – that the Chiefs can pull off the big road upset. Kansas City opened the 2017 regular season with a 42-27 drubbing of the Patriots and have actually won two of the last three meetings against New England dating back to 2014, including a 41-14 smackdown of Tom Brady and company back on September 29 of 2014. Okay, the hell with it. I picked Kansas City to beat New England in their opener and I’m going to pick them to end New England’s season in the divisional round, no matter what the NFL Betting Odds might say, especially since there are reports coming out of New England that there’s some kind of beef between Brady and Belichick this season. Alright now, with the Chiefs now heading to Pittsburgh to play the Steelers in the AFC title tilt, I’m going for broke with another upset pick for the Chiefs to take out the Steelers. Yes, I know Kansas City has lost to Pittsburgh three straight times and six of the last seven times overall, but hey, the last two times they’ve met, the Steelers won 19-13 in Week 6 and 18-16 in last year’s divisional round, so it’s not like the Steelers have dominated Kansas City. In the end, the Chiefs started off the season looking like they could win Super Bowl 52 and they closed out the season on a positive note by winning four straight. They’ve clearly got some ‘good mojo’ going right now and I believe it could carry them all the way to Super Bowl 52.