NFL picks 2019: Experts foresee a Chiefs vs. Saints Super Bowl matchup

The playoffs, so far, haven’t been terribly thrilling. Except for a few notable exceptions, like last week’s Saints’ win over the Eagles, the teams that won never really left the outcome in doubt. The Divisional Round was especially good for the favored teams — all of them won, setting up a pair of conference championships between the first and second seeds. So what about this weekend?

If you came here looking for an upset this weekend from our wise panel of experts, well, temper your expectations. The majority of our panel this week sees both the No. 1 seeds, the Chiefs and the Saints, winning this weekend and punching their ticket for a Super Bowl.

But that’s not ironclad.

The Patriots are underdogs at the Chiefs this weekend. Those poor, poor Patriots. Will they ever catch a break? Our panel does not believe they will, not this week anyway. There are two picks for New England, one of which is the coin toss.

Are we not giving the Patriots enough of a chance? The Chiefs played a nearly flawless game against the Colts last week. What was especially impressive about it was just how well the defense played. In the secondary, they kept the Colts receivers from doing much of anything with a tightly applied man coverage. The defensive line was all over the place, making life hell for Andrew Luck.

But that was the Colts. The Patriots proved last week against the Chargers that they will run right through the best laid defensive plans. The Chiefs might be favored, but the honest truth is, no matter how much we might not like to admit it, the Patriots deserve a little more consideration here.

The Saints are favored to beat the Rams, but the Rams are getting some love from the panel. Two actual humans picked the underdog Rams to win this weekend. And the coin.

Like the Chiefs, the Rams ability to win might come down to what their defense can do. Though the offensive line did a truly impressive job of turning aside the Cowboys’ front seven last week. The man to watch in this one is none other than Mr. Gumbo himself, Aqib Talib. With Talib, the Rams might have the answer everybody else has been looking for to control the Michael Thomas-Drew Brees connection. Still, it’s not an easy task. New Orleans is real tough to beat in the Dome.

If you came here looking for some oracle, you might want to pay attention to the OddsShark computer. Good ol’ Hal 2000 was a perfect 4-0 with its picks last week. Scary how smart these machines are becoming, isn’t it?