A showdown between a pair of teams going in two opposite directions will meet out on the gridiron as the Jacksonville Jaguars take on the Kansas City Chiefs in the Heart of America. Join us for our NFL odds series where we make our Jaguars-Chiefs prediction and pick.

Coming into this game with a record of 3-6 after snapping a five-game losing streak with a 27-20 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders, the heavily underdog Jaguars will look to jumpstart their season before it is too late with a stellar showing versus the Chiefs. Occupying the third spot in the AFC South, the Jags sit two and half games back of the lead and will need to put it in gear down the stretch to have a shot at winning the division for the first time since 2017 when they ended up making it to the AFC Championship game.

How does Patrick Mahomes do it? After it seemed like the Chiefs were doomed at many points while trailing the Tennessee Titans last weekend, it was the magician of a quarterback residing in Kansas City that led his team on an epic touchdown drive to tie the game and further win the matchup in overtime to help KC improve to 6-2. With firm control of the AFC West, can the Chiefs continue their dominant ways?

Here are the Jaguars-Chiefs NFL odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

NFL Odds: Jaguars-Chiefs Odds

Jacksonville Jaguars: +9.5 (-110)

Kansas City Chiefs: -9.5 (-110)

Over: 51.5 (-110)

Under: 51.5 (-110)

Why The Jaguars Could Cover The Spread

In order for the Jaguars to cover the spread, it will be vital for them to be as efficient offensively as they were a week ago against the Raiders.

In that winning contest, the Jaguars ran circles around the Raiders for 403 total yards of offense. They also finally saw QB Trevor Lawrence string together the type of performance that Jacksonville expected him to have after taking him no. 1 overall in the 2020 NFL Draft. With 235 yards through the air and completing a whopping 80 percent of his passes, Lawrence will be the team's golden ticket to covering the spread since he will be tasked to score an abundant amount of points against a high-octane Chiefs squad.

With that being said, do the Jags have what it takes to slow down a Chiefs passing attack that has seemingly not missed a beat with the departure of Tyreek Hill in the offseason? Without a doubt, stopping one of the top offenses in the National Football League will be no easy task, but the one thing that the Jags have the advantage in will be the fact that head coach Doug Pederson used to serve on Chiefs coach Andy Reid's staff in Kansas City.

Alas, with Pederson's knowledge of how Andy Reid likes to operate his offenses, he must figure out a way to keep Kansas City out of the end zone more often than not if Jacksonville wants any shot in this one.

Why The Chiefs Could Cover The Spread

Eager to prove that they are one of the best football teams from top to bottom in the entire league, the Chiefs certainly have a knack for the dramatic. In almost every game that they have played up to this point, Kansas City has had to overcome an early deficit and stage a massive comeback to escape the jaws of defeat. While this type of recipe for success hasn't necessarily caused them any troubles up to this point, storming out of the gates and getting off to a better start will no doubt help this team's confidence of playing a complete game moving forward.

Outside of getting off to sluggish starts, Kansas City will certainly look to not have Patrick Mahomes throw as much as he had to in last week's effort versus the Titans. When the dust was settled and the clock had hit triple zeroes, Mahomes had 68 passing attempts next to his name. While he did indeed connect with his receivers on an enormous 43 completions for 446 total passing yards, the Chiefs must turn their focus on the running game that only accumulated 14 yards on the ground from their three running backs.

Simply put, even though KC is hands down a pass-heavy team, establishing some sort of running threat will keep the Jags honest defensively and also keep Mahomes' arm fresh later down the road in more pivotal games with playoff implications.

Defensively, although the Chiefs had their struggles in allowing over 270 passing yards, Kansas City can truly take control of this game by blitzing Lawrence more often than not and forcing him to make bad decisions with the football. Thus far, Lawrence has struggled with taking care of the ball with 23 interceptions in 25 games since coming into the league.

Final Jaguars-Chiefs Prediction & Pick

Despite the Jaguars coming off an impressive win against the Raiders, they will be squaring off with a completely different beast with the Chiefs in this one.

Final Jaguars-Chiefs Prediction & Pick: Chiefs -9.5 (-110)