NFL Week 16 Picks: Upcoming Odds and Predictions for Full Schedule

Week 15 of the 2018 NFL season was a streak-buster in a variety of ways.

Aaron Rodgers threw his first interception since September. The San Francisco 49ers knocked off their NFC West rival Seattle Seahawks for the first time since 2013. The New England Patriots dropped back-to-back December games for the first time since 2002.

Having the Carson Wentz-less Philadelphia Eagles stop the super-charged Los Angeles Rams was the perfect cap to a Sunday that served as a reminder of this game's unpredictability.

Nevertheless, we'll try to plot out what's ahead by picking each Week 16 contest against the spread (choice indicated in bold) and taking a closer look at two tilts you won't want to miss.

Week 16 Odds

Saturday, Dec. 22

Washington Redskins at Tennessee Titans (-10)

Baltimore Ravens (+4.5) at Los Angeles Chargers

Sunday, Dec. 23

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+7) at Dallas Cowboys

New York Giants at Indianapolis Colts (-9)

Houston Texans (-3.5) at Philadelphia Eagles

Jacksonville Jaguars (+5) at Miami Dolphins

Green Bay Packers (-3) at New York Jets

Cincinnati Bengals at Cleveland Browns (-7)

Minnesota Vikings (-4.5) at Detroit Lions

Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots (-13)

Atlanta Falcons at Carolina Panthers (-3.5)

Chicago Bears (-3.5) at San Francisco 49ers

Los Angeles Rams (-13.5) at Arizona Cardinals

Pittsburgh Steelers at New Orleans Saints (-6.5)

Kansas City Chiefs (-2.5) at Seattle Seahawks

Monday, Dec. 24

Denver Broncos (-2.5) at Oakland Raiders

Baltimore Ravens at Los Angeles Chargers

Todd Olszewski/Getty Images

It's fitting this contest will get Saturday's 8:20 p.m. ET time slot all to itself, because it deserves all the eyeballs it can get.

The Ravens have turned ferocious since handing the offensive keys to rookie quarterback Lamar Jackson. Sunday's 20-12 win over the Bucs pushed their record to 4-1 in his starts and once again featured the winning combination of suffocating defense and relentless, multi-layered rushing.

And yet, as ESPN.com's Jamison Hensley observed, not even this successful stretch has allowed Baltimore to breathe easy in the playoff picture:

"The Ravens likely have to reach 10 wins to either win the division or secure a wild-card berth, given the remaining schedules of the Steelers and the two other teams with an 8-6 record in the AFC (the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans). Baltimore's final regular-season games are at the Los Angeles Chargers (11-3) and home against the Cleveland Browns (6-7-1)."

The Chargers, you may recall, are perhaps playing the best football of anyone. They've won 10 of their last 11 games, a stretch that includes victories over the Titans, Seahawks, Steelers and Chiefs.

Los Angeles is the more talented team and it has home-field advantage; this should be the obvious pick. But Baltimore has this team-of-destiny feel to it with Jackson under center, so maybe we'll see the Ravens both keep the good times rolling and their playoff dreams alive.

Kansas City Chiefs at Seattle Seahawks

Peter G. Aiken/Getty Images

Most clubs aren't searching for identities in Week 16, let alone ones comfortably over .500.

But this feels like a soul-searching matchup of sorts for the Chiefs (11-3) and Seahawks (8-6) based on some recent bumpiness.

Kansas City hasn't been the same since cutting Kareem Hunt. It beat the Raiders by a touchdown, edged past the Ravens in overtime and blew a 14-point lead against the Chargers. They haven't had a rusher reach 80 yards—a mark Hunt cleared five times in the first 11 games—and only had one go over 60.

Seattle, meanwhile, spoiled a chance to clinch a playoff berth by losing to a bottom-feeder playing backups almost across the board in the San Francisco 49ers. The fact said bottom-feeder is a heated rival makes the performance even less excusable. That it's also a team this group destroyed 43-16 just two weeks back adds to the embarrassment.

"No one was oblivious to what was on the line here," offensive lineman Duane Brown said. "Whenever you have a chance to clinch a playoff berth and you don't get it done, it's very disappointing. But the most disappointing part is how much we assisted in the loss."

This contest, slated for Sunday night, threatened to be a snoozer. But that was assuming both the Chiefs and Seahawks would have previously handled their clinching duties by beating a division rival.

Since neither proved up to the task, each faces high stakes heading into this collision. That might be a bit worrisome for the respective fanbases, but it's a gift to the unbiased viewership—as if Patrick Mahomes vs. Russell Wilson wasn't already enough.

Odds used courtesy of OddsShark