The Broncos are home underdogs with sharps leaning to Chargers

The Denver Broncos are winners of three straight but the money still isn’t buying as the team are home underdogs for a Week 6 matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Broncos have gotten quicker than last year after also starting 0-2. Last year the team went on a five-game win streak in the middle of the season to fight for .500 but fell short. The second season of Sean Payton is seeing Denver become serious about being one of the 10% of teams that make the playoffs after starting 0-2. That would be a big deal for the Broncos, who haven’t been in the postseason since winning Super Bowl 50. Denver’s odds of the postseason have nearly doubled in each of the last two weeks.

In beating the rival Raiders 34-18, Denver has given themselves the chance to be the second-best team in the AFC West behind the undefeated Chiefs. Whoever wins this coming Sunday will have an easy claim to that second spot.

Showing the importance of this game as the Broncos keep trying to climb off the ropes, ESPN’s FPI has Denver with a 36.4% chance of making the playoffs which is up 21% from last week. The Chargers sit at around 46%, which could flip with the Broncos if the Orange and Blue come out on top. That’s basically what happened last week with Denver’s win over the Raiders.

But Los Angeles is the opposite of the hot Orange and Blue, dropping their last two and sitting idle with a bye last week. They put in a strong performance against Kansas City during their last game but still fell short.

Bookies have Denver’s chances set at +180 right now which carries implied odds of 38%. So Vegas still thinks the Broncos are alive and defending Denver for a second-straight week would go a long way for the season’s hopes.

Denver Broncos odds

Week 6: Denver +2.5

Playoffs Odds: +180 (up from week 5 +380)

Super Bowl: +9,000 (up from Week 4 + 15,000)

What the Broncos odds mean

Oddsmakers have moved this line around a bit this week, with the game opening at 1.5 underdogs for the Broncos. That grew to three-point underdogs before slipping back down to 2.5 as of Thursday. This means a lot of money must have poured in on the Chargers early in the week and now a bit of money has been placed on Denver the last 24 hours or so. The bookies believe that the Broncos will lose to the Chargers by about a field goal with a final count of 19-16 or so based on the over/under total.

Los Angeles has their quarterback in Justin Herbert but has had to reload some talent by taking a step back in the first year of Jim Harbaugh. Many expect the Chargers will compete for a postseason spot while trying to get a bit younger across the board. Yet the Chargers’ wins this year haven’t been that impressive—beating the Raiders and Panthers. They somewhat surprisingly lost to the Steelers which diminished a lot of prognosticators’ feelings about the franchise.

This will be the 129th matchup between these foes. The Broncos are 73-55-a all-time against the Chargers. The Broncos won both games last year, 24-7 earlier in December and then 16-9 a few weeks later. Despite some down years, Denver has still won three straight games against Los Angeles.

The Broncos have a short week ahead, meeting Payton’s former team—the Saints—on Thursday Night Football.

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