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    2023 NFL Kickoff Game odds: Lions surprise choice to visit defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs in September 7 season opener

    The 2023 NFL season will kick off with Detroit at Kansas City.
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    As usual, the new NFL season will begin with the defending Super Bowl champion hosting the Kickoff Game on a Thursday night, and for 2023 that matchup will feature the Kansas City Chiefs against, in a minor surprise, the Detroit Lions – not exactly prime-time darlings over the past two decades, but a team on the rise. DraftKings has opened K.C. as a 7-point favorite. The game will be played on Sept. 7, which is in 119 days. The full NFL schedule will be released tonight.

    Right after the Chiefs upset the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 57 to win their second title of the Patrick Mahomes era, SportsLine oddsmakers installed Cincinnati and Philadelphia as the two favorites to be K.C.'s opponent in the Kickoff Game. Yet we learned from leaks Wednesday that Kansas City would host the Eagles in Week 2 and the Bengals on New Year's Eve. Then the Lions started to make more sense.

    Detroit improved from 3-13-1 in head coach Dan Campbell's first season to 9-8 last year, just missing a wild card spot. The Lions upset the Packers in Green Bay in the final game of the regular season to eliminate the Packers from wild card contention in what would prove to be Aaron Rodgers' final game with the team. If Seattle hadn't won in overtime earlier in the day, the Lions (with that win) and not the Seahawks would have been the NFC's final wild card team.

    A total hasn't been set yet for the matchup, but it should be very high considering the Chiefs led the league in total and scoring offense (29.2 points per game) en route to Mahomes winning a second MVP, while the Lions were fourth in total offense and fifth in scoring (26.6 PPG) behind a rejuvenated Jared Goff. Detroit's problem was defense, allowing 25.1 PPG.

    The Lions are +110 NFC North favorites this year. They haven't won the division since 1993, the longest such drought in the league. Detroit is also the only NFC team to never play in the Super Bowl and are +750 to win the conference. The Chiefs are favored to repeat their treble of winning the AFC West (-165), conference (+330) and Super Bowl titles (+600). A Detroit-Kansas City Super Bowl exact matchup is priced at +3500.

    Goff and Mahomes faced off in one of the most memorable prime-time games in recent years when Goff's Rams hosted the Chiefs on Monday night in Week 11 of the 2018 season and won 54-51. It was the first time in league history a game featured both teams scoring at least 50 points. The QBs combined for nearly 900 yards passing and 10 touchdowns.

    The Chiefs won the last matchup with the Lions 34-30 in Detroit in September 2019. The total has gone Over in eight straight meetings, although they usually only play every four years. Kansas City is 2-0 in the Kickoff Game, winning at New England in 2017 and home vs. Houston in 2020. Detroit hasn't played in it. 

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    Matt SeveranceSeverance Pays

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