NFL Week 10 Picks: Sorting out AFC West Matchups

The AFC West is a mess right now. Three teams—the San Diego Chargers, the Oakland Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs—are tied atop the division with identical 4-4 records, while the Denver Broncos, Tim Tebow and all, are lurking just one game back, at 3-5.

These four floundering football teams will have the opportunity to sort some things out against one another in Week 10, when the Raiders travel to San Diego to play the Bolts on Thursday night and the Broncos battle the Chiefs in Kansas City on Sunday.

So who will win? What will become of this chaos on the West Coast? And will anyone else in the NFL really care?

Oakland Raiders at San Diego Chargers

(Sigh.) Do I really have to pick a winner here?

The Chargers would appear to be the safe bet here. They nearly upended the undefeated Green Bay Packers, the defending Super Bowl champions, in a 45-38 shootout at Qualcomm Stadium on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Raiders looked lost at home without Darren McFadden against the Broncos. Carson Palmer tossed three picks for the second time in as many games for the Silver and Black and the defense surrendered 24 unanswered points over the final 18 minutes in a 38-24 defeat.

That being said, the Bolts are anything but a safe bet to beat the Raiders in this one. This will be San Diego's third game in 11 days, on the heels of a three-game losing streak since the team's Week 6 bye.

And, when it comes to throwing picks, no quarterback has been as frequent a victim of errant tosses as the Chargers' Philip Rivers, who leads the NFL with 14 interceptions.

This game could very well hinge on the health of each team's running backs. If McFadden is forced to sit for the Raiders and Ryan Mathews is good to go for the Chargers, which appears to be the case, then San Diego should have the upper hand and a spot atop the division as a result.

Prediction: Chargers 30, Raiders 21

Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs appeared to have climbed all the way back from their dismal 0-3 start...only to fall right back into the ditch with an embarrassing 31-3 loss to the previously-winless Miami Dolphins at home.

As mentioned earlier, the Broncos spent that very same time bullying the Raiders in the second half with a makeshift zone-read offense, which Tim Tebow ran to near perfection in a 38-24 win.

Neither team is particularly strong defensively and both love to run the ball, so if you're into straight-ahead, smash-mouth football, then this is the game for you.

Or not, since neither defense figures to put up much resistance against those hard-charging ball carriers.

As dicey a prospect as it is to side with Tebow at this point, he looked much more comfortable on Sunday running a Broncos offense begrudgingly tailored to his particular talents. If nothing else, at least Tebow has highs to go along with his lows.

Matt Cassel, on the other hand, seems to always hover somewhere between so-so and flat-out mediocre.

Prediction: Broncos 24, Chiefs 21