Chiefs vs. Chargers 2017: Prediction, Betting Odds, Preview For Saturday's NFL Game

Even though two teams are tied atop the AFC West with three weeks left in the 2017 NFL regular season, the division’s winner should be decided before Sunday’s schedule of games begin. The Los Angeles Chargers can complete their three-month climb to first-place with a road victory against the Kansas City Chiefs.

It might have been unfathomable that the two teams would be in this position just 10 weeks ago. Kansas City looked like the best team in football with five straight wins to start the year. L.A. didn’t get their first win of the year until Week 5 when they visited the New York Giants, who had also gone winless through Week 4.

Heading into Week 15, the Chargers look like they could make a deep playoff run. The Chiefs might be fortunate to sneak into the postseason as one of the AFC’s two wild-card teams.

This is the Chargers’ team that many NFL experts predicted would show up in 2017. After consecutive last-place finishes, L.A. is putting it all together with an elite defense and an offense that’s more than capable of putting up points.

It all starts on defense, where L.A. now ranks second only to the Jacksonville Jaguars in points allowed. The team hasn’t given up more than 26 points in a game all season long, and their last three opponents have totaled a combined 29 points. Even in their loss to the New England Patriots in late October, the Chargers held the NFL’s No.2 offense to just 21 points.

Joey Bosa is fifth in the NFL with 11.5 sacks, and Melvin Ingram isn’t far behind with nine sacks of his own. Casey Hayward has probably been the league’s best cornerback, leading a secondary that’s limited opposing quarterbacks to a 76.1 passer rating.

Don’t expect Alex Smith to be the quarterback that’s able to solve the Chargers’ defense. Only five players have been sacked more times in 2017, and he’s posted a passer rating of 76.0 or worse in three of his last four games.

Kansas City hasn’t faced many good defenses during their stretch of six losses in eight games, and the offense has struggled when playing units that don't rank near the bottom of the league. Pittsburgh is the only top-15 defense to play the Chiefs in the last two months, and Kansas City only scored 13 points in a loss to the Steelers.

When the Chiefs hosted Buffalo’s 16th ranked scoring defense, they scored 10 points. Kansas City put up 17 points against Dallas’ No.17 scoring defense.

It took facing Oakland’s subpar defense in Week 14 for Kareem Hunt to reach the 100-yard mark for the first time since Oct. 8. After starting the season with eight interception-free games, Smith has been picked off in four of the last five contests.

What reason is there to think Kansas City will right the ship against Los Angeles?

As long as Philip Rivers avoids another three-interception game like he had in the Week 3 meeting between the two rivals, L.A. will be difficult to beat. The quarterback has posted a passer rating of at least 103.2 in each of his last four games.

The Chargers began the week as road favorites, though the betting line has moved considerably. According to the latest betting odds at OddsShark, Kansas City is now a one-point favorite. The over/under is 46.

Prediction: Los Angeles over Kansas City, 27-17