Commanders face unanimous doubt before their primetime Chiefs matchup

When the Washington Commanders visit the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night, there could be a curse at work.

No, it isn’t the injury bug that has bitten the Commanders so hard, costing quarterback Jayden Daniels the third game of his season in eight tries.

The Unanimous Prediction

Instead, it's the dreaded sweep curse (if you're a Kansas City fan) that comes up whenever a panel of experts all pick one team to win a game, in this case, NFL.com picking the Chiefs to beat Washington, and none thinking it’ll even be a one-score affair.

Why the Experts Lack Faith

“The Chiefs have quickly become the scariest team in the NFL once again, winning four of their last five games after beginning the campaign 0-2. Patrick Mahomes is playing insanely well right now. He leads the NFL with 18 total touchdowns and just got his offense back to full strength -- most notably Rashee Rice, who returned and scored two TDs last week after missing the majority of last year with an injury and serving a six-game suspension to open this season. In fact, over their last four games, the Chiefs have scored 126 points -- the most by Kansas City in a four-game stretch since Weeks 4-7 of 2022, the year when Mahomes won his second MVP and the Chiefs won their third Super Bowl. The Commanders are headed in the opposite direction. Their defense is among the worst in the NFL, they've lost back-to-back games and they'll be without Jayden Daniels (hamstring) on Monday night. It doesn't look promising for Marcus Mariota and the banged-up Washington offense against a Kansas City defense ranked third in scoring and fifth overall. Add in the fact that this is a prime-time game at Arrowhead, and it could get ugly,” Brooke Cersosimo said about her choice of Kansas City over the Commanders.

Along with picking the home team, Cersosimo also predicts a scoring margin of nine points, the closest of all the panelists’ predictions.

The widest margin of victory prediction belongs to Gennaro Filice, who believes Washington will lose by three touchdowns, 38-17.

Every NFL.com panelist is hitting at a rate around or above 64 percent this season, giving them better odds of being right than wrong, though none of that will matter once the whistle blows.

Around the NFC East

Around the rest of the NFC East Division, the panel also believes the Philadelphia Eagles will beat the New York Giants, though the margin of victory there is much smaller than in the Commanders’ game.

Meanwhile, three of the panel members believe the Denver Broncos will beat the Dallas Cowboys, while two believe Dak Prescott and friends will get the best of Bo Nix’s squad.

The Commanders will look to hand each panelist a loss on their record by not only overcoming the public doubt in their team, but by defeating arguably the most dangerous team in the NFL now that quarterback Patrick Mahomes is getting all of his weapons assembled.

Stick with CommanderGameday and the Locked On Commanders podcast for more FREE coverage of the Washington Commanders throughout the 2025 season.

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