Chiefs vs. Cardinals NFL odds, trends: Patrick Mahomes yet to lose Week 1, has spectacular individual numbers in four wins
Kansas City has the longest Week 1 winning streak in the NFL as it visits Arizona on Sunday.
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The longest Week 1 winning streak in the NFL belongs to the Kansas City Chiefs. They have won their past seven openers (5-2 against the spread) and have a trip to Arizona on tap Sunday. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been individually brilliant in his four openers as a starter. The Cardinals will be without suspended Pro Bowl DeAndre Hopkins and opened at +3 but are now +6 at Caesars Sportsbook.
Kansas City's last Week 1 loss was at Houston in 2014 -- when Mahomes was still at Texas Tech and coached by current Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury. Mahomes is 4-0 in Week 1 (3-1 ATS) but didn't cover last year in a 33-29 home victory over Cleveland. In those four games, Mahomes is averaging 71 percent completions and 305.8 yards with 14 total touchdown passes and zero picks.
The Chiefs averaged 36.3 points in those games but also had electric receiver Tyreek Hill at their disposal. He of course was traded to Miami this offseason. Then again, Mahomes has averaged 363.3 passing yards as a starter without Hill in his career to go with eight TD passes and zero picks and a 3-1 record.
Kansas City's first-half schedule this year is incredibly hard. It will become the first team in NFL history to start the season with eight straight games against teams that had a winning record the prior season. In fact, only one of the Chiefs' first 12 games is against teams that finished with losing record last season (Week 10 vs Jacksonville).
Arizona tends to start seasons well under Kingsbury but then collapse. In Weeks 1-7 under him, the Cards are 15-5-1. In Weeks 8 or later, they're 9-20. The Cardinals started 7-0 last year and Kyler Murray had a 116.8 passer rating in those games, but that number dropped to 81.2 in his final eight starts (2-6 record).
In May, Hopkins was handed a six-game suspension by the NFL for violating the league's PED policy. Lat season, Hopkins was limited to 10 games (including the playoffs). Arizona was 8-2 with him and averaged 30.2 points per game. In the eight he missed, the team was 3-5 and averaged 19.8 PPG. Arizona did reunite Murray with his former top Oklahoma receiver this offseason by trading for Baltimore's Marquise Brown.
Two potentially key injury notes for Arizona: No. 1 tight end Zach Ertz and edge rusher Markus Golden are both in question due to injuries. Ertz had 56 catches for 574 yards and three scores after being traded from the Eagles and Golden had a team-high 11 sacks in 2021.
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