Chiefs visit Vikings after close call last week as Mahomes makes 1st appearance in Minnesota

2023-10-06 00:47

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will have his first chance at beating the Vikings when they head to Minnesota on Sunday

KANSAS CITY (3-1) at MINNESOTA (1-3)

Sunday, 4:25 p.m. EDT, CBS

OPENING LINE: Chiefs by 5 1/2, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

AGAINST THE SPREAD: Chiefs 2-2; Vikings 1-2-1.

SERIES RECORD: Chiefs lead 8-5.

LAST MEETING: Chiefs beat Vikings 26-23 on Nov. 3, 2019, in Kansas City, Mo.

LAST WEEK: Chiefs beat Jets 23-20; Vikings beat Panthers 21-13.

CHIEFS OFFENSE: OVERALL (3), RUSH (9), PASS (6), SCORING (9)

CHIEFS DEFENSE: OVERALL (8), RUSH (12), PASS (8), SCORING (T5)

VIKINGS OFFENSE: OVERALL (9), RUSH (28), PASS (3), SCORING (16)

VIKINGS DEFENSE: OVERALL (20), RUSH (15), PASS (21), SCORING (19)

TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL: Chiefs minus-3; Vikings minus-8.

CHIEFS PLAYER TO WATCH: RT Jawaan Taylor has a close eye on him from the officials, so why not watch him? He's the most penalized player in the league with nine flags thrown against him this season, and a facemask call that was ruled to have occurred in the end zone last week against the Jets resulted in a safety against the Chiefs. Taylor has been an excellent blocker when he hasn't been penalized.

VIKINGS PLAYER TO WATCH: RB Alexander Mattison got off to a slow start but has topped 90 rushing yards in each of the past two weeks, carrying the ball 20 times against the Chargers and 17 times against the Panthers. The Chiefs have yet to allow more than 118 yards rushing in a game this season.

KEY MATCHUP: The Vikings offensive line against the Chiefs offensive line. OK, so they don't actually match up against each other, but whichever group performs better will give their team a huge advantage. The Vikings have allowed 46 pressures of Kirk Cousins, according to Sportradar, for the second most in the NFL. The Chiefs rushed for more than 200 yards against the Jets to offset an uncharacteristically shaky performance by Patrick Mahomes.

KEY INJURIES: Vikings C Garrett Bradbury (back) hasn't played since getting hurt in the opener, but he's been practicing and appears to be on track to return to the starting lineup. ... Chiefs starting LB Nick Bolton (ankle) has missed the past two games. He practiced on a limited basis on Wednesday.

SERIES NOTES: The first meeting between the teams came in the fourth Super Bowl, when the Chiefs won 23-7 for the first of their three titles. The Chiefs have won three of the past four in the series, with all of those wins in Kansas City. They have lost their past two games in Minnesota, and their previous win there came at the old Metrodome on Nov. 3, 1996. The Vikings won the most recent game in Minnesota 16-10 on Oct. 18, 2015, at the University of Minnesota while U.S. Bank Stadium was being built.

STATS AND STUFF: Chiefs coach Andy Reid moved into a tie with Tom Landry for fourth in regular-season wins with his 250th last week against the Jets. He has 119 wins since arriving in Kansas City in 2013. ... The Chiefs had 200 yards in the first quarter against the Jets and just 201 yards the rest of the game. ... Mahomes threw his 200th career touchdown pass last week. He reached the mark in his 84th game, five faster than Dan Marino for the quickest in NFL history. ... The Vikings are the only team that Mahomes has neither faced nor beaten in his career. He missed the 2019 matchup because of a knee injury, and Matt Moore led the Chiefs to the victory. ... Chiefs DT Chris Jones has 3 1/2 sacks in three games, including at least one in each. He had 15 1/2 sacks in the regular season a year ago. ... Vikings QB Kirk Cousins and WR Justin Jefferson had their 27th career touchdown connection last week. That passed Warren Moon and Cris Carter for third most in team history. ... Vikings S Harrison Smith had three sacks against Carolina, giving him 19 1/2 for his career. ... Minnesota (6.18) along with Miami (8.02) and San Francisco (6.34) are the only teams averaging at least 6.0 yards per play. ... Cousins has thrown a league-leading 11 TD passes to six different receivers, joining Kansas City as the only teams with at least that many players with a TD reception. ... Vikings FB C.J. Ham played his 100th career game last week at Carolina, making him the fourth undrafted player in franchise history to reach that mark. Mike Tingelhoff (240), Leo Lewis (140) and Adam Thielen (135) are the others.

FANTASY TIP: Travis Kelce remains a must-start tight end, even though he had just 26 receiving yards last week against the Jets. But as teams increasingly try to take him away, and given the Chiefs' propensity for using multiple tight end sets, Noah Gray could become a viable option in deeper leagues. He has two games with three catches and had a 34-yard TD reception last week against the Jets.

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