{"id":317034,"date":"2023-01-03T12:35:42","date_gmt":"2023-01-03T17:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/?p=317034"},"modified":"2023-01-03T12:34:41","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T17:34:41","slug":"chargers-vs-broncos-prediction-odds-pick-nfl-betting-week-18-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/chargers-vs-broncos-prediction-odds-pick-nfl-betting-week-18-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Chargers vs. Broncos Prediction, Odds, and Picks for Week 18"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/tag\/los-angeles-chargers\">Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> vs. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/tag\/denver-broncos\">Denver Broncos<\/a> prediction takes a look at the Week 18 matchup that features a strong AFC West rivalry. Let&#8217;s dive into the current <a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/nfl-cfb-betting\/\">NFL betting<\/a> odds, key storylines to watch, and make a prediction for the game. Note that all odds are from <a href=\"https:\/\/dksb.sng.link\/As9kz\/tccz?_dl=https%3A%2F%2Fsportsbook.draftkings.com%2Fgateway%3Fs%3D966125721%26wpcid%3D180624%26wpcn%3DProFootballNetwork_PromosLink1%26wpsrc%3DXL%2520Media%26wpcrid%3D&amp;pcid=180624&amp;psn=XL+Media&amp;pcn=ProFootballNetwork_PromosLink1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a> as of Tuesday, Jan. 3.<\/p>\n<h2>Chargers vs. Broncos Odds<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Spread<br \/>\n<\/strong>Chargers -3.5<\/li>\n<li><strong>Moneyline<br \/>\n<\/strong>Chargers -170, Broncos +145<\/li>\n<li><strong>Over\/Under<\/strong><br \/>\n40.5 points<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Chargers vs. Broncos Prediction<\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s interesting to look back just a month ago and unearth the conversations that were taking place in the NFL media about Brandon Staley and his future as the Chargers&#8217; head coach.<\/p>\n<p>LA was 6-6 at the time and had fallen well short of expectations, at that time, based on the moves the Chargers had made this past offseason to load up for a championship run. Since that point, however, Los Angeles has rattled off four straight wins and have locked up a spot in the 2022 NFL postseason.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MORE: <a href=\"\/chiefs-vs-raiders-prediction-odds-pick-nfl-betting-week-18-2023\/?more1\">Chiefs vs. Raiders Prediction, Odds, and Picks for Week 18<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Looking ahead to Week 18, it&#8217;ll be interesting to see if Staley chooses to give his team some much-needed rest. This Chargers team has dealt with an insane amount of injuries over the course of this season, and some time off before their Wild Card Weekend matchup could be beneficial.<\/p>\n<p>The Chargers are locked into a playoff spot, but they won&#8217;t be able to catch Kansas City within the division. So there&#8217;s not much incentive to risk injury to your starters to secure a victory this week.<\/p>\n<p>If they can continue to allow some key players time to get back fully healthy for the playoffs &#8212; plus potentially even Rashawn Slater &#8212; this team could make some noise in the postseason.<\/p>\n<p>As for the Broncos, last week was the first game in the post-Nathaniel Hackett era, and it wasn&#8217;t a terrible performance. The Broncos were able to keep things tight until the near end with the Chiefs and just narrowly lost by a score of 27-24.<\/p>\n<div class=\"&quot;longform\u201d\">\n<p>Obviously, things have not gone the way that Denver had hoped going into the season. That&#8217;s safe to assume anytime you end up firing your first-year head coach before the season is over. However, this performance from the team in Week 17 gives some confidence for the fan base moving forward.<\/p>\n<div data-cfptl=\"1\" id=\"profo-261209894\"><div style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"profo-418927942\" data-cfpa=\"289257\" data-cfpw=\"289257\"><figure id=\"attachment_303018\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-303018\" style=\"width: 780px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dksb.sng.link\/As9kz\/tccz?_dl=https%3A%2F%2Fsportsbook.draftkings.com%2Fgateway%3Fs%3D966125721%26wpcid%3D180624%26wpcn%3DProFootballNetwork_PromosLink1%26wpsrc%3DXL%2520Media%26wpcrid%3D&amp;pcid=180624&amp;psn=XL+Media&amp;pcn=ProFootballNetwork_PromosLink1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-303018 size-full\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,&lt;svg xmlns=&quot;http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg&quot; viewBox=&quot;0 0 780 200&quot;&gt;&lt;\/svg&gt;\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/DraftKings-Desktop-Bet-5-Win-150.jpg\" alt=\"DraftKings Promo - Bet $5, Win $150\" width=\"780\" height=\"200\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/DraftKings-Desktop-Bet-5-Win-150.jpg 780w, https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/DraftKings-Desktop-Bet-5-Win-150-300x77.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/DraftKings-Desktop-Bet-5-Win-150-768x197.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/DraftKings-Desktop-Bet-5-Win-150-696x178.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\" title=\"\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-303018 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/DraftKings-Desktop-Bet-5-Win-150.jpg\" alt=\"DraftKings Promo - Bet $5, Win $150\" width=\"780\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/DraftKings-Desktop-Bet-5-Win-150.jpg 780w, https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/DraftKings-Desktop-Bet-5-Win-150-300x77.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/DraftKings-Desktop-Bet-5-Win-150-768x197.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/DraftKings-Desktop-Bet-5-Win-150-696x178.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\" title=\"\"><\/noscript><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-303018\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Want to win a free $150 on the NFL this season? As a new user on DraftKings Sportsbook, you can bet $5 and win $150 if your team wins!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\">;new advadsCfpAd( 289257 );<\/script><\/div>\n<p>Were the issues concentrated to Hackett because he wasn&#8217;t ready to take on an NFL head coaching gig? If so, that can easily be remedied by getting the next hire right and getting this talented roster back on track. A strong performance here from Denver&#8217;s offense in Week 18 could go a long way to making this an attractive destination for a top-tier coaching candidate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>This game doesn&#8217;t mean anything for the Broncos in 2022. It means everything for their future in 2023 and beyond, though. If they can come out firing and potentially prove that their offensive woes this season were correlated to coaching more than anything else, Denver could reel in the big coaching hire that they want this offseason.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chargers vs. Broncos Score Prediction<br \/>\n<\/strong>Broncos 20, Chargers 14<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our Chargers vs. Broncos prediction looks at the latest betting odds and key storylines in this pivotal Week 18 AFC West matchup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1174,"featured_media":317823,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10263],"tags":[63298,63353,63358],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317034"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317034"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":317820,"href":"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317034\/revisions\/317820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}