Week 17 NFL Picks: Vegas Odds, Prop Bets and Predictions for Final Schedule

The Oakland Raiders have a huge task in front of them Sunday when they take on the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field.

If the Raiders can win this road game in front of the Broncos' loud and vociferous fans, they will clinch the AFC West title and no worse than the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs. If the New England Patriots lose their season finale at Miami, a victory would also bring the Raiders the top seed in the AFC playoffs.

However, if the Raiders lose at Denver and the Kansas City Chiefs win their road game against the San Diego Chargers, the Chiefs will win the AFC West and the Raiders will slide down to the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoffs.

Winning at Denver is tough enough under the best of circumstances, and the Raiders don't have anything close to that scenario. They will go into this game with backup quarterback Matt McGloin under center, as he takes over for starting quarterback Derek Carr (broken fibula).

Carr was having a sensational season and was in the conversation for the MVP award before he suffered his injury against the Indianapolis Colts last week. 

The Broncos are the last team to offer any sympathy. They did not earn a playoff spot this season and were eliminated from postseason consideration last week in a loss at Kansas City.

Game	Point spread	Total	Prediction
Chicago at Minnesota	Minnesota (-6.5)	43	Chicago; Under
Houston at Tennessee	Tennessee (-4)	40.5	Houston; Under
Carolina at Tampa Bay	Tampa Bay (-3.5)	46	Tampa Bay; Over
Dallas at Philadelphia	Philadelphia (-5.5)	43	Dallas; Over
Buffalo at N.Y. Jets	Buffalo (-3.5)	42.5	Buffalo; Under
New England at Miami	New England (-9)	44.5	Miami; Over
Green Bay at Detroit	Green Bay (-3)	49.5	Detroit; Over
Baltimore at Cincinnati	Cincinnati (-1)	41.5	Cincinnati; Under
N.Y. Giants at Washington	Washington (-7.5)	46	N.Y. Giants; Over
Cleveland at Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh (-5.5)	42.5	Pittsburgh; Over
Jacksonville at Indianapolis	Indianapolis (-4.5)	47	Indianapolis; Over
New Orleans at Atlanta	Atlanta (-8)	57	Atlanta; Under
Seattle at San Francisco	Seattle (-9)	43	Seattle; Under
Kansas City at San Diego	Kansas City (-4)	45	San Diego; Over
Arizona at Los Angeles	Arizona (-6.5)	40.5	Arizona; Under
Oakland at Denver	Denver (-1.5)	40.5	Denver; Under

Despite that defeat, the Broncos still have the No. 6-ranked defense in the league and are No. 1 against the pass. Von Miller is one of the most impactful defensive players in the league with 13.5 sacks and two forced fumbles, and he will come after McGloin with full force.

According to OddsShark, the Broncos are 1.5-point favorites in their season finale, and it's tough to see the Raiders getting a win here.

McGloin is relatively untested this year even though he closed out the Raiders' Week 16 win over the Colts after the Carr injury. He is not going to feel comfortable playing on the road against one of the best defensive teams in the league.

Head coach Jack Del Rio might want to rely on his defense to get the job done in this important game, but that might be impossible. While the Broncos struggle on offense with Trevor Siemian at quarterback, the Raiders rank 27th in yards allowed and have given up 24 points or more nine times this season.

Look for the Broncos to take out a season's worth of frustration on their longtime rivals and win the game by at least seven points.

Green Bay at Detroit

The winner of this game knows it is going to the playoffs as the NFC North champion, and if the New York Giants pick up a road win against the Washington Redskins earlier in the day, the Lions will have claimed their spot in the playoffs before they arrive at Ford Field for their Sunday night game.

The Packers were in deep trouble at midseason, as they had a 4-6 record and did not appear to have much hope of getting back in the playoff chase because their defense had been awful and Aaron Rodgers and the offense were not overly impressive.

But the Packers are a calm, cool and professional bunch, and they managed to turn things around. The defense has shown significant improvement while Rodgers, ace receiver Jordy Nelson and the offense have gotten hot.

The Packers have won five straight games and have caught the Lions.

Detroit was in the midst of an impressive season and had built a 9-4 record behind quarterback Matthew Stafford. However, the Lions have lost their last two games to the Giants and Dallas Cowboys and now are in danger of missing the playoffs.

While many observers have said the Lions have collapsed, they have lost two games to two of the best teams in the NFC. That's a long way from a collapse.

They are at home for their biggest game of the year and have a 6-1 record at Ford Field. The Packers are three-point favorites in this game, but the Lions have shown they know how to win tight games.

The Lions are not in the middle of a collapse; they will find a way to win at home, earn the division title and surprise the football world.

New England at Miami

Bill Wippert/Associated Press

The Patriots learned a hard lesson last year when they failed to come through at the end of the regular season and did not earn the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

They lost their final two games of the regular season, which allowed the Denver Broncos to steal the top spot in the AFC. New England was forced to go to Denver to play the AFC Championship Game, which it lost, and the Broncos would go on to win the Super Bowl.

The Patriots defeated the New York Jets last week and now get a chance to clinch home-field advantage against the Miami Dolphins on the road this week.

Look for New England to play hard for 60 minutes and do everything it can to win. However, the Dolphins are a playoff team and have already won 10 games. They are a much better team than the one that defeated the Patriots 20-10 in the season finale a year ago.

Nevertheless, the Patriots are favored by nine points. Miami is the sixth seed in the AFC playoffs, but it could move up to the fifth spot if it can beat the Patriots and the Chiefs lose at San Diego.

Miami should be able to keep this game close and could come away with the victory. The home underdog Dolphins are the play here.

Prop bets

The end of the regular season means that firing season is at hand in the NFL.

The day after the last regular-season game is known as Black Monday, and that's when a number of head coaches are almost certain to be fired.

OddsShark is offering a prop bet on the number of head coaches fired anywhere from Jan. 2 to the start of the playoffs (Jan. 7). Bettors who believe more than five head coaches will get the ax can get even money on a $100 bet if six coaches are sent packing.

Those who believe that fewer than five coaches will get fired must lay $140 to win $100.

Another prop bet is on who will open the 2017 season as the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns.

Robert Griffin III, Cody Kessler and Josh McCown are all listed at plus-500 to line up under center on opening day. OddsShark also lists Tim Tebow and Johnny Manziel as having a shot to start for the Browns.

Tebow has odds of plus-3,300, while Manziel is an even longer shot at plus-5,100.

RGIII seems to have a good shot at winning that job. The Browns will probably draft a quarterback this spring, but even if they find their quarterback of the future, he may need time to develop before he moves into the starting lineup.