In a game many are referring to as an AFC Championship preview, the Chiefs and Ravens will lock horns for the third straight season on Monday night. The Chiefs enter the game as three point underdogs, which has occurred six times previous in the Mahomes era.
5 Reasons the Chiefs Will Beat the Ravens on Monday Night
- The Ravens secondary can be exploited. The team lost corner Tavon Young for the year last Sunday and Earl Thomas is now gone after punching a teammate. Safeties DeShon Elliott and Chuck Clark may have a difficult time containing the Chiefs explosive offense unless corners Marcus Peters and Marlon Humphrey consistently win battles in coverage.
- The front seven will not harass Mahomes like the Chargers did. We know Melvin Ingram and Joey Bosa create chaos every time the two teams play and they hit Mahomes early and often last Sunday. Expect a cleaner pocket Monday night as the offensive coaching staff hopes to clean up some of the miscues and penalties from a week ago. Derek Wolfe was a solid addition on the defensive line and Calais Campbell can certainly cause damage, but not the the extent the Chargers did.
- The Chiefs thrive playing away from Arrowhead and there will be no fans. It rarely gets mentioned that the Chiefs were 7-1 away from Arrowhead a season ago. This is a team well adept at winning on the road and, for much of this season, they will not have to contend with a boisterous crowd. The Ravens are, undoubtedly, hungry to beat the Chiefs (Lamar Jackson is 0-2 against Kansas City thus far). They finally get a prime time matchup in Baltimore and it will be as quiet as a wedding prayer inside M&T Bank Stadium.
- The pressure is all on Baltimore. They are favored, they’ve looked better through two weeks and they watched the Chiefs roll to a Super Bowl victory last season. Lamar Jackson is fantastic yet has faltered in his two playoff appearances while Mahomes and the Chiefs thrive in these moments. Jackson hasn’t beaten the Chiefs yet and for this to become some sort of Brady/Manning generational rivalry, they HAVE to start winning a game or two. The Chiefs are playing with house money here.
- The Mahomes factor. This quarterback has never lost a game by more than a touchdown. He was voted MVP in 2018 and then won Super Bowl MVP in 2019. Lamar Jackson is special, but he can’t do some of the things Mahomes can do with the football. Also, look for a much better offensive output from the receiving corps (which disappointed a week ago).
Prediction: Chiefs 31 Ravens 28
