Monday Night Football Best Sports Betting Picks & Predictions for New Orleans Saints vs. Kansas City Chiefs

New Orleans will try to snap a two-game losing streak when it hits the road on Monday night to take on the Kansas City Chiefs.

However, cluster injuries on both sides of the ball could significantly impact the Saints’ ability to come away with a win.

The Chiefs’ injuries are mainly at the wide receiver position, but the team should have enough depth to overcome those issues.

Surprisingly, the Chiefs are down to a 5.5-point favorite after opening at -8. Has the market completely gotten it wrong with this line move? Let’s take a look.

No need to panic for the Chiefs

There was a time when the Chiefs were just winning games under their head coach, Andy Reid, but not covering the point spread.

That hasn’t been the case of late, as Kansas City has won its last 10 games (regular season and playoffs) while covering the spread in nine of them.

Kansas City has won the last two Super Bowls despite lacking stellar play at the wide receiver position. This offense is still high-functioning even with Rashee Rice and Hollywood Brown on injured reserve.

Even when you look at its current depth chart, names like Xavier Worthy, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Justin Watson can still get the job done.

While Worthy is still a rookie, there’s a reason the Chiefs traded up to land the former Texas Longhorn in the 2024 NFL Draft.

One of the strengths of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is his ability to build a rapport with his receivers quickly. Last week, when Rice went down with a knee injury, Worthy stepped up and had the best game of his rookie campaign with 73 yards and a touchdown on three catches.

Tight end Travis Kelce also had season highs in receptions (seven), targets (nine) and receiving yards (89).

If you take away Mahomes’ weapons, he’s just going to find new ones and spread the ball around even more.

As for Watson, he’s been with the Chiefs for the last three seasons, while Smith-Schuster was also on the 2022 team that won the Super Bowl. Thus, Mahomes already has a ton of familiarity with those receivers and won’t hesitate to hurl the ball in their direction if the right situation presents itself.

Spotlight on Derek Carr as injuries pile up

Saints fans had plenty of reason for excitement heading into Week 3 after watching their team put up 40 points in back-to-back games to start the season.

However, the mood is entirely different after two straight losses, dropping their record to .500.

The reality is those two wins came against the perfect opponents for New Orleans: a Panthers team with an inept offense that couldn’t move the ball and a Cowboys defense that can’t stop the run.

New Orleans quarterback Derek Carr averaged only 19.5 pass attempts in those victories, and Week 4 was the first time he threw more than 30 passes this season.

It’s almost like if the Saints can avoid Carr playing too big of a role, they’ll take it. Unfortunately, he might be called into action early and often on Monday night.

New Orleans will be without two starting linebackers, Pete Werner and Willie Gay, against the Chiefs. On offense, starting center Shane Lemieux and right guard Cesar Ruiz are also out.

The impact of the linebackers being out could create a nightmare scenario of trying to contain Kelce in the middle of the field.

Losing two linemen will also hurt the Saints’ pass protection and ability to run the ball with Alvin Kamara.

You need a special kind of quarterback who can overcome these injuries, and I expect the task will be too much for Carr to handle.

Best bet: Chiefs -5 (-110 at ESPN Bet)