Lions vs. Chiefs betting preview: Odds, picks, props, trends, injuries, weather and more for Thursday's NFL Kickoff Game

The 2023 NFL season kicks off on Thursday night at 8:20 p.m. ET with the Detroit Lions facing the defending champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, at Arrowhead Stadium. But the reigning champs will be far from whole with star defensive tackle Chris Jones engaged in a contract holdout and Travis Kelce's status in question following a knee injury in practice this week (update: Kelce is out). Do the upstart Lions have what it takes to upset a Chiefs team without two of its biggest stars?

The Kelce injury has driven the spread down to Chiefs -4.5 and the over/under to 52.5, per SportsLine consensus. The spread was Chiefs -7 throughout much of the summer, but the Jones situation helped move it down to Chiefs -6.5 prior to news of Kelce's injury, which shot the spread and total down further for the opening game.

We'll take you through every aspect of the NFL Kickoff Game that you need to know before you lock in your bets, including SportsLine expert picks, props, trends, injury information and everything else that will help you know which plays are worth making for the primetime game.

Who wins Chiefs vs. Lions in the NFL Kickoff Game 2023, and what critical X-factor makes one side of the spread hit HARD? Join SportsLine right now to see everything you need to know about the game in our NFL Kickoff Game betting guide!