Somehow, we have already reached Week 18 of the 2022 NFL regular season. It’s already going to be the second Sunday in January 2023, but the 2022 season is not yet complete. Thanks to the NFL adding an additional Wild Card spot in the playoffs for each conference, this week’s slate of games will be absolutely loaded with intrigue and drama.
We’ve got an AFC South title game between the Titans and Jaguars on Saturday. The Packers have a win-and-in situation against the Lions, who are also still alive in the playoff race. While many teams have been eliminated, there is still going to be plenty of jockeying for playoff positioning.
So who is winning in Week 18 of the 2022 season? Let’s take another stab at making NFL picks and predictions for one final time this regular season. Next week, the playoffs. This past week, we were 11-4 in straight-up picks from Week 17.
Editor’s note: All of these game picks were made prior to Monday night’s suspended game between the Bills and Bengals. It’s impossible to know, at this point, what the NFL is going to plan for Week 18 action but nothing matters by comparison to the life of Bills safety Damar Hamlin. Our thoughts and prayers are with Damar, his family, and everyone impacted.
2022 NFL picks and score predictions for Week 18
Kansas City Chiefs (13-3) at Las Vegas Raiders (6-10)
Saturday, January 7, 4:30 PM ET
I’ll be the first to admit that the Raiders gave a much better fight in Week 17 with Jarrett Stidham at the quarterback position than I anticipated. The fact that they scored 34 points on the no. 1 defense in the NFL — a defense that hasn’t allowed more than 20 points since October 23, 2022 — should be lost on no one.
Jarrett Stidham may have honestly played his way into relevance for 2023 but we’re going to need to see another week of that before jumping to any conclusions.
So the Raiders played inspired for a week, what does that really mean? The Kansas City Chiefs are coming to town in Week 18 and all the Raiders can do at this point is play spoiler and evaluate for the future. Can they beat Kansas City, who has the top seed in the AFC on the line?
I’m not betting on it.
The Chiefs have had some close calls in recent weeks, most recently being their most recent game against the Denver Broncos in which they were a fourth down conversion away from at least letting the Broncos in position to tie this past weekend. Although the Chiefs have played it close in some recent games, the safe bet is that they’re going to take care of business in Week 18 on the road.
Prediction: Chiefs win 27-21