The Kansas City Chiefs Week 15 matchup against the Houston Texans should be a bloodbath on paper. However, the Chiefs have a frustrating way of playing to their level of competition. So, will the Chiefs make this one easy on fans and put on a Chiefs-Texans blowout? Or will they let the worst team in the league hang around just to make it interesting? We’ll predict the answer to those questions and more in our bold Chiefs Week 15 predictions below.

With four games to play, the Chiefs are 10-3, which is tied for the best record in the AFC. Unfortunately, thanks to the team’s Week 6 loss to the Buffalo Bills, that puts them in second place and on track to play on Wild Card weekend instead of getting a bye. That means all of these last few games are crucial as the Chiefs must win out and hope the Bills slip up to finish first.

On the Texans' side, the team is also cruising to their season goal, but that’s goal is obtaining the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. At 1-11-1, the Texans are just a few losses away from wrapping that up. Despite being epically bad when it comes to winning games, the Texans did fend off a double-digit favorite Dallas Cowboys team last week to make it a game (and only lose by four).

The Chiefs can’t win anything this week by beating the Texans, but they can lose things. That’s why the best thing the team can do in this Chiefs-Texans matchup is put their opponents away early and get ready for next week vs. the Seattle Seahawks. Can they do that? We’ll discuss in these bold Chiefs Week 15 predictions.

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3. Isiah Pacheco puts up big numbers

During the Chiefs preseason, there was a huge amount of buzz surrounding seventh-round rookie running back out of Rutgers, Isiah Pacheco. Once the season started, it took a while for him to get going and become the team’s No. 1 back, but by the Chiefs' Week 15 game vs. the Texans, he is now the main man.

Pacheco now leads the team in carries (124) and rushing yards (591). He’s had double-digit carries in each of his last five games and has run for 66 yards or more each time.

In Week 11, he put up 107 yards on 15 carries vs. the Los Angeles Chargers, which is important and instructive for Pacheco’s possibilities in the Chiefs-Texans game. That’s because the Chargers are the 28th-ranked rushing defense in the league. And one of the only teams worse than them at stopping RBs is the Texans, who rank dead-last in rushing yards allowed.

The Chiefs’ game plan this week should feature a heavy dose of Isiah Pacheco, and the rookie runner should produce a lot with his carries. The bold Chiefs Week 15 prediction here is that Pacheco rolls for over 100 yards and at least one rushing touchdown.

2. The Chiefs don’t cover the 14-point spread

Here’s the thing about the 2022 Chiefs. When they play the Bills or the Cincinnati Bengals or the San Francisco 49ers — win or lose — they look like what we all believe they are: One of the best teams in the NFL.

However, against the Indianapolis Colts and Las Vegas Raiders, and Denver Broncos, they play in close games that they should win comfortably.

And Patrick Mahomes and company playing these games like an NBA team in March is a problem. One, they can mess around too much and lose, like they did to the Colts. Or, after several games of going through the motions against bad teams, it is difficult to power back up to full strength against the Bills or Bengals.

The Chiefs-Texans spread is the Chiefs -14. However, the team has only one by that margin or more three times this season. Between the Texans giving the Cowboys all they could handle last week and the Chiefs' tendency to sleepwalk vs. bad opponents, I’ll be taking the Texans against the spread.

1. Chiefs 31, Texans 21

Just because I’ll take the home team vs. the spread in the Chiefs-Texans game doesn’t mean the Chiefs Week 15 matchup will be a loss. Houston is one of the worst teams in the league, and the Chiefs are one of the best. The final score will reflect that reality.

Maybe the Chiefs get up for this one because they need to win out to have a chance at a bye, or maybe Mahomes goes off in his return to Texas, where he played his high school and college ball.

However, based on the results this season, the more likely outcome is that the team let the Texans hang around, so the final bold Chiefs Week 14 prediction is that the team wins but doesn’t cover the two-touchdown spread.