Week 16 NFL Free Picks: San Diego At Cleveland

When you get a pair of teams with no shot at the playoffs going head to head in Week 16 of the season, it is generally a game that you will skip on TV. That is most certainly not going to be the case this Saturday when the San Diego Chargers head into Cleveland to face the Browns. There are a couple of things at play here: is this one of the last times we will see the Chargers representing San Diego, and will the Cleveland Browns take one step closer to an 0-16 season? Neither one is a particularly great reason to tune in, but there is something about the situation in Cleveland that makes it nigh on impossible to turn away. It is the equivalent of driving past a car crash, although unlike in a car wreck scenario, many people are rooting for there to be casualties when watching the Browns. This is a team that deserves this level of futility, but will they get there? The Chargers go into Cleveland as a 6-point betting odds favorite.

In Depth Analysis On The Week 16 NFL Free Picks: Chargers At Browns

When: Saturday, December 24 at 1 PM EST Where: FirstEnergy Stadium, Cleveland TV: CBS Radio: KIOZ and WKRK Live Stream: CBS Sports Network NFL Odds: TBA  

Why bet on the San Diego Chargers

This season has fizzled out for the San Diego Chargers, and they are coming into this one on a 3-game losing skid. This is a team that could be much better than their 5-9 record, but 4th quarter collapses have hurt them all season long. What has hurt them badly over the last few weeks has been their inability to protect the football. The sad fact of the matter is that you aren’t going to win too many games when you turn the ball over 14 times in a 5-game stretch, as they have done in the last 5 weeks. The good news coming into this one is that the Cleveland defense only has a single takeaway in their last 4 games.

Why bet on the Cleveland Browns

We don’t really need to go into too much detail about the trials and tribulations of the Browns this season, as it has already been very well documented. From a betting standpoint, this is a team that has been best avoided all season, as they are a truly miserable 2-12 ATS on the season so far. As if that were not bad enough, they are also just 1-6 ATS versus teams with a losing record. Perhaps the most damning nugget of all, though, other than not winning a game, is that they haven’t even been competitive at home, going 0-7 ATS on their own field. The only positive thing for Cleveland fans right now is that the season is almost over.

Expert Pick and Final Score Prediction

This is, without a doubt, the last legitimate shot that the Browns have to win a game this season, as next week sees them go on the road to Pittsburgh. Even if he Chargers do fall flat in the final quarter in this one, I’m sure they will still have done enough to get the win.

San Diego Chargers 27 Cleveland Browns 20