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What happened to the Kansas City Chiefs?!

Heading into Thursday Night Football’s suddenly fascinating battle with the Broncos in Denver (8:20 p.m., Fox/NFLN), the perpetually favored Chiefs have failed to cover three straight point spreads while losing two games in a row outright.

Injuries have been a well-publicized factor. There’s enough parity in the league that using backups takes away your margin for error. Betting markets have been slow to reflect KC’s recent collapse.

The Chiefs:

Impressed when healthy in their first two games, winning at Jacksonville, 40-26, laying 3¹/₂ points, then raiding Oakland to the tune of 28-10 while laying 6¹/₂ points. That’s two double-digit road covers against opponents that have turned out to be feisty.

Looked more vulnerable in a 33-28 shootout win over Baltimore that still covered a four-point spread. This is the same Ravens squad that would lose badly at home to Cleveland.

Were lucky to get past the Detroit Lions, winning 34-30 as seven-point road favorites despite getting outgained. A fumble-return touchdown helped put the Chiefs over the top.

At their unhealthiest, were bullied by the Indianapolis Colts, 19-13. Indy was an 11-point underdog, yet controlled the point of attack from start to finish … winning rushing yards 180-36.

Returned a few bodies for a big home game against Houston, but lost outright again, 31-24. And, again, the Chiefs were blown off the point of attack. Houston won rushing yards, 192-53, on the way to a 472-309 yardage rout.

It’s not hard to visualize the market trend. The Chiefs earned two double-digit covers … then played two games close to the line … then suffered two double-digit non-covers.

Does that mean Denver is going to win outright Thursday night by at least a touchdown? It’s not out of the question because the recent Broncos fit KC’s kryptonite prototype.

Last week, Denver outrushed Tennessee, 103-39. The week before was a 191-35 emasculation of the Los Angeles Chargers. Back in Week 3, the Broncos had a 149-77 rushing bulge at Green Bay.

The Broncos don’t always do that or they wouldn’t be 2-4! But, they know what needs to be done … and now may be more comfortable with new head coach Vic Fangio’s preferred smash-mouth approach.

Picking the winner of Chiefs-Broncos (Denver will likely close at +3 or +3¹/₂) will likely come down to these factors:

Can the Denver defense disrupt Patrick Mahomes? Fangio tends to play “safe and tough” on defense. The Broncos recorded zero sacks in four of their six games. If Mahomes is given too much time to work his magic, the Broncos will be taken way out of their comfort zone. Denver did break character with seven sacks of Tennessee quarterbacks last week.

Will the Chiefs wear down at altitude? This team could really use a bye right now after two shootouts and two physical wrestling matches. They won’t get one until late November.

This game could blow up in either direction depending on how those questions are ultimately answered.