Week 17 NFL Picks: Underdogs Most Likely to Pull off Crazy Upsets

Any given Sunday, a favorite can suffer a letdown, especially in Week 17.  In the season finale, after watching 15 games of every team, you think you’d be familiar with every team in the league enough to be able to pick the winner of each game, but an underdog always manages to pull off a shocking upset.  Here are the most likely teams to pull off a crazy win this week.

3. Kansas City Chiefs

The Denver Broncos have all the motivation in the world going into Sunday’s game against the Chiefs.  Tim Tebow and company have come so far; after looking like potential contenders for Andrew Luck, they’re now one win away from winning the AFC West. 

Kyle Orton isn’t interested in any happy endings.  After being benched and released by the Broncos, he’ll be looking to pick apart the same Denver defense that he did every day in practice to originally lock up the starting job.

2. San Diego Chargers

With the same motivation as the Broncos, in theory, the Oakland Raiders should steam-roll through the San Diego Chargers.  The thing with the Chargers is—and this is the key every week—you don’t know who is going to show up.

Philip Rivers could lead a talented team that looks like it could contend for a Super Bowl into Oakland on Sunday, or he could drag in a bunch of players that have already purchased plane tickets to the Bahamas along with hotel rooms for the next four months.  If the Super Bowl-contender look-a-likes show up, Oakland’s playoff hopes will go out the window.

1. Cincinnati Bengals

Unlike the other two underdogs on this list, the Cincinnati Bengals actually have something to play for this week.  They are on a two-game winning-streak and field a top-10 defense, so anything can happen.  And of course, the Baltimore Ravens have been known to randomly forget to show up over the course of a 16-game season.

David Daniels is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

Follow @TheRealDDaniels