The AFC West is getting more interesting by the week. Heading into Week 4, the Denver Broncos lead the division by one game with the Oakland Raiders in second and the Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers tied for third at 1-2.
Here’s a look at this week’s AFC West matchups.
Oakland Raiders at Chicago Bears, Sunday 1:05PM EST
The Raiders stand alone in second place as the look to win their third consecutive game. Last week they ended a 16 game skid in the eastern time zone with their win against the Cleveland Browns.
This week they face an 0-3 Bears team, who will be without quarterback Jay Cutler and wide receiver Alshon Jeffery.
The Raiders offense moved the ball extremely well against the Browns defense, as Derek Carr utilized his top offensive weapons. He will need to do just that again this week.
With Oakland standing at 2-1, a game out of the division, they are getting praise around the league, but these are the types of games they have to win in order to continue to be contenders in the West.
Taking advantage of lesser teams is what the good teams do in this league, and the Raiders must take advantage of a Bears team without Cutler and Jeffery.
Defense needs to be relentless and swarm the field, while the offense needs to get in the end zone often.
Final Score Prediction
Raiders 24 Bears 17
Kansas City Chiefs at Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, 1:05PM EST
The Chiefs were embarrassed by the Green Bay Packers last week on Monday Night Football, and just looked off from the get go.
KC stands at 1-2 and will have another tough matchup with the undefeated 3-0 Bengals.
Andy Dalton and company have looked great through the first three weeks of the season, while the Chiefs are struggling on all cylinders.
KC’s defense in particular has given up an NFL-high 10 touchdowns this season, and will face another top offense in the Bengals this week.
Alex Smith has greatly struggled this year, showing inconsistencies early on, and the offense has had trouble getting something going.
Granted, they have played some tough teams, but the Chiefs had high expectations heading into the season.
This is a crucial game for the Chiefs. They could either fall to 1-3 or leave Cincy with a W at 2-2 moving on to Week 5 with some momentum.
Final Score Prediction
Chiefs 17 Bengals 28
Cleveland Browns at San Diego Chargers, Sunday, 4:05PM, EST
The Chargers are 1-2 after their loss last week to the Minnesota Vikings.
This week, they play a Browns team going through a quarterback controversy between Johnny Manziel and Josh McCown. The Chargers will face a Cleveland team coming off a loss to the Oakland Raiders in the final seconds of the game.
For the Chargers, they have had trouble protecting quarterback Philip Rivers, but continue to have one of the better offenses, stats wise, in the league.
One problem the Bolts have had thus far is turnovers, as they have eight on the year.
This is a game the Chargers have to win. They’ve faced some tough teams the past few weeks and came up short.
The West looks to be a tight division this year, and to keep pace this is an important game for San Diego to win at home.
Final Score Prediction
Browns 21 Chargers 27
Minnesota Vikings at Denver Broncos, Sunday 4:25PM EST
This has the making to be one interesting matchup.
The Vikings are 2-1 and are playing some very good football as of late, and the Broncos, although 3-0, have not looked like a 3-0 team.
Denver has struggled and looked off on the field, but Peyton Manning has buckled down when it matters most and led them to victory.
Teddy Bridgewater and company have played in some close games, but dominated the Chargers 31-14 last week.
This may be one of Denver’s biggest challenges thus far in the young 2015 season, but they will have homefield advantage on their side as they look to improve to 4-0 on the year.
Final Score Prediction
Vikings 24 Broncos 27