As we saw last week, bold predictions always go exactly the way we expect, right? We made some declarations last week that a number of teams were guaranteed to win or lose, and unfortunately, the NFL is too unpredictable to know with absolute certainty what is going to happen.
As much as some people like to think that it's scripted...
We said the Bengals were guaranteed to beat the Commanders last week, and that obviously didn't happen. All projections have to be taken with a grain of salt and even the team with the worst chance to win according to the masses can pull off an upset. That's the beauty of the league.
With that in mind, we're going to give you some guaranteed losers again this week.
NFL Predictions for Week 4: 3 teams guaranteed to lose
1. New England Patriots (road game vs. 49ers)
I think the New England Patriots might be the lowest of low-hanging fruit in Week 4 of the 2024 NFL season as far as guaranteed losers go. Everything is working against them in their matchup against the 49ers.
- The Patriots are going on the road
- The 49ers are coming off of two straight losses
- New England may have the worst offensive line in the NFL
- They also may have the worst skill players in the NFL
The 49ers are beaten up right now with some long-term injury concerns, but they still have a lot more talent than the Patriots. They are 10.5-point favorites and I think that's giving the Patriots a lot of credit.
2. Los Angeles Chargers (home game vs. Chiefs)
The Los Angeles Chargers have so many key injuries right now and they are piling up for them at the worst possible time.
Sure, the Kansas City Chiefs have gotten lucky on a number of occasions already this season but they are also just better than pretty much everyone else. The Chargers may or may not have Justin Herbert this weekend. Derwin James is suspended. Joey Bosa is hurt.
This is a Los Angeles team that could probably play the Chiefs pretty well if they were fully healthy, but that's not remotely the case.
Kansas City is favored by 7.5 points in this game and they should be able to get to 4-0 with relative ease given the state of the Chargers right now.
3. Seattle Seahawks (road game vs. Lions)
We picked a couple of the lower-hanging fruit on the Week 4 schedule and the final team that is guaranteed to lose in Week 4 has to be a bit of a tougher one to predict (at least that's how this game works in my head).
The Seattle Seahawks are 3-0 entering this week and they've done some impressive work under new head coach Mike Macdonald to start this season. They have the offensive weaponry to be able to hang in any game but I think the Detroit Lions are sort of perfectly tailored to beat the Seahawks by at least a touchdown, if not more.
The Lions have been getting after the quarterback consistently, they can run the ball well, and they have the types of playmakers at receiver to give the Seahawks fits. Given the fact that Detroit is playing at home in a charged environment, I think we'll see them make a statement and give the Seahawks their first loss of the season.