Wednesday will mark three months until the 2023 NFL season opener and spreads are already out for all 16 Week 1 games.
Some of the league’s top teams are set to clash in the first regular-season action of the year, which makes for some interesting matchups, specifically from a bettor’s point of view. Patrick Mahomes and the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs begin the year at home against Jared Goff’s Lions on and Aaron Rodgers’s Jets host Josh Allen’s Bills on to bookend the opening weekend of the season.
With September inching closer by the day, let’s take a look ahead to the five best NFL games to bet on Week 1.
Detroit Lions vs. Kansas City Chiefs Odds
Spread: Detroit +6.5 (-110) | Kansas City -6.5 (-110)
Moneyline: DET (+240) | KC (-300)
Total: 53.5 – Over (-110) | Under (-110)
Game Info: Sep. 7, 8:20 p.m. ET | NBC
It should come as no surprise that this game has the highest over/under of the week, considering Kansas City led the league in scoring last season (29.2 ppg) and Detroit finished fifth (26.6). Mahomes, flanked by two new tackles, will be up against what the Lions hope is a much-improved secondary given the capital they invested in their pass defense. And Goff will be throwing to a largely new cast of skill position players while his line tries to keep Chris Jones at bay.
Only two teams finished with a better record against the spread than Detroit (12–5) in 2022. The Lions also covered the spread in three of four games when they were underdogs of six or more points. On the other hand, the Chiefs (6–10–1) were one of the worst teams to bet on last year, though they finished 5–5 against the spread as a favorite of six-plus points.
The right move here might be to bank on a high-scoring affair and take the over on Kansas City’s team total — the implied total is 30. The last time the Chiefs played in the season opener was in 2020 when they thumped the Texans, 34-20, fresh off Mahomes’s first ring. They’ve also scored 33 or more in Week 1 seven years in a row. Andy Reid’s offenses tend to hit the ground running.
