National Football League

2023 NFL odds: Chiefs-Patriots Over/Under lowest in Patrick Mahomes era

Published Dec. 13, 2023 6:10 p.m. ET

The Over/Under for Kansas City's game at New England on Sunday (1 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports App) is in territory rarely seen since the Chiefs drafted Patrick Mahomes in 2017.

Mahomes took over as the full-time starting quarterback at the beginning of the 2018 season, and consequently, the Chiefs have had one of the most prolific offenses in the NFL.

Kansas City (8-5) led the league in scoring in 2018 (35.3 points per game) and last season (29.2).

However, this season, instead of purring along like a finely-tuned sports car, the Chiefs are sputtering along.

Kansas City is 11th in points per game (22.5), the lowest average since Mahomes joined forces with coach Andy Reid.

And now, the O/U for the game against Bill Belichick's Patriots is 37.

According to FOX Sports Research, it's the lowest O/U since Mahomes' first start of his rookie season (37.5 against the Denver Broncos in the regular-season finale, a 27-24 win for K.C.).

Chiefs @ Patriots (1 p.m. ET Sunday, FOX and FOX Sports App)

Point spread: Chiefs -9 (Chiefs favored to win by more than 9 points, otherwise Patriots cover)
Moneyline: Chiefs -462 favorites to win (bet $10 to win $12.16 total); Patriots +352 underdogs to win (bet $10 to win $45.280 total)
Total scoring Over/Under: 37 points scored by both teams combined

The previous low total for the Chiefs since 2017 was 41.5 in Week 4 of this season, a 23-20 win at the New York Jets on Oct. 1.

As previously mentioned, Kansas City hasn't been putting points on the board with the same frequency as in previous seasons with Mahomes, having lost three of its past four games.

The Chiefs lost 20-17 against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, 22-19 at the Green Bay Packers on Dec. 3, and 21-17 against the Philadelphia Eagles on Nov. 20.

Are the Chiefs in panic mode after their latest loss to the Bills?

FOX Sports' LeSean McCoy said on "Speak" that he expects Mahomes & Co. to get the offense back in gear in the coming weeks.

"Andy Reid is still there. He's the best coach in football. … Is he the best quarterback in football, Patrick Mahomes? What are we trippin' about? The thing is, they're not playing well, and they've never been in this situation, so I'm not panicking.

"I am a little concerned because if you've never been somewhere, you don't know how you're going to react," McCoy added. "If your back was never against the wall … you don't know how to get out. That's all that I'm scared of, because they've never been in this situation before."

After facing the 3-10 Patriots, the Chiefs end the regular season with games against the 5-8 Las Vegas Raiders, the 7-6 Cincinnati Bengals without Joe Burrow, and the 5-8 Los Angeles Chargers without Justin Herbert.

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