NFL Week 15 Preview: BetMGM offers £40 in free bets as big names face elimination threat

Just four weeks of the NFL regular season remain and you’d be forgiven for thinking we’d gone back in a time machine.

The New England Patriots and Denver Broncos lead the way in the AFC for the first time since the days of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. The Kansas City Chiefs are on the brink of elimination and defending Super Bowl champions – the Philadelphia Eagles – are spiralling in a manner reminiscent to their 2023 collapse, where they lost five of their last six and crashed out in the first round of the playoffs.

Ahead of a weekend where some big headlines could be written, BetMGM are continuing to offer NFL fans an excellent welcome package – including single bets and bet builders, which can be used on this weekend’s games. As long as you haven’t had an account with them before, all you need to do is create one and place a qualifying bet of £10 – this will unlock £40 in free bets.

NFL week 15 quick tips

• Take the over of 49.5 points in the New England Patriots-Buffalo Bills game – 10/11 with BetMGM
• Back the Los Angeles Chargers to cover the 4.5-point spread as an underdog at the Kansas City Chiefs – 10/11 with BetMGM
• Tip the Detroit Lions to cover the spread of 5.5 as an underdog at the Los Angeles Rams – 10/11 with BetMGM

NFL Week 15 schedule:

Friday

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers v Atlanta Falcons (1:15am)

Sunday – early window (all 6:00pm)

• Chicago Bears v Cleveland Browns
• Cincinnati Bengals v Baltimore Ravens
• Houston Texans v Arizona Cardinals
• Jacksonville Jaguars v New York Jets
• Kansas City Chiefs v Los Angeles Chargers
• New England Patriots v Buffalo Bills
• New York Giants v Washington Commanders
• Philadelphia Eagles v Las Vegas Raiders

Sunday – late window (all 9:25pm)

• Denver Broncos v Green Bay Packers
• Los Angeles Rams v Detroit Lions
• New Orleans Saints v Carolina Panthers 
• San Francisco 49ers v Tennessee Titans
• Seattle Seahawks v Indianapolis Colts

Monday

• Dallas Cowboys v Minnesota Vikings (1:20am)

Tuesday

• Pittsburgh Steelers v Miami Dolphins (1:15am)

Chiefs staring shock elimination in the face

For the first time in his career, Patrick Mahomes looks as though he’ll be sitting at home watching the playoffs like the rest of us. Not only have the Kansas City Chiefs won the AFC West every year since Mahomes took the reins, they’ve always made it to the Conference Championship – even in seasons where they’ve looked a little off colour. Their loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday Night Football ended the streak of division titles – they can no longer catch the Denver Broncos.

The primetime game proved to be a microcosm of all the Chiefs’ issues this season, with Mahomes either out of sync with his receivers, or those receivers simply dropping the ball in big moments when they usually come up clutch. The three-time Super Bowl MVP set several unwanted personal records – he completed just 42.4% of his passes and, at one point, threw 10 consecutive incompletions or interceptions.

They’re 6-7 having lost four of their last five. One more defeat here to the Los Angeles Chargers could be terminal for their season, depending on other results. The Bolts have already beaten them this season, and hold a three-game advantage over them in the AFC West. If Jim Harbaugh’s team complete the double, the Chiefs won’t be able to finish above them either. 

They come into this one with much more spark than their hosts after winning their nationally televised game against the Philadelphia Eagles – defeating them 22-19 in overtime. Rookie running back Omarion Hampton returned to the lineup for the first time in two months, and was handed almost a 50/50 split in carries with the emerging Kimani Vidal. Justin Herbert also ran the ball ten times, which almost matched the number of completions he had in the passing game (12). 

The defence, however, got most of the plaudits after intercepting Jalen Hurts four times. Mahomes will need to watch out having just thrown three picks for just the fourth time in his career.

The bookies don’t expect the Chiefs to go out with a whimper, with BetMGM making them 4.5-point favourites to boost their fragile playoff probability from 10% pre-game to 16%. 

Patriots can clinch AFC East with win against Bills

The New England Patriots haven’t looked back after a week 5 victory at the Buffalo Bills – that was game three of what has become a ten-game winning streak. The Bills, who’ve owned the AFC East ever since Tom Brady left Foxborough, haven’t been able to keep up after faltering against the likes of the Atlanta Falcons, Miami Dolphins and Houston Texans.

Should the Pats extend their run to eleven straight wins here, against the Western New Yorkers, the division title will return to Massachusetts for the first time since 2019. Drake Maye and co have also had a week off to prepare for this one, but the MVP contender was red hot last time out. He completed 24 of 31 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns against the New York Giants – wrapping up the game early with 30 first-half points.

If Maye was on fire in his last game, Josh Allen was ice cool in his. The Bills and Cincinnati Bengals put on a classic in the snow at Highmark Stadium on Sunday, with the Bills rallying late off the back of intercepting Joe Burrow twice – returning one of them for a touchdown.

Allen led two other fourth-quarter touchdown drives, and was 22 for 28 for 251 yards on the day with four touchdowns in all – three through the air, plus a trademark 40-yard scramble. Another freakish performance in spite of the elements.

At 9-4, the Bills should join the Pats in the post-season, but their frozen tundra up by the Canadian border has been a huge advantage for them in previous playoff runs. Should they be forced to settle for a wildcard berth, they will have to overcome their recent travel sickness at least once – but probably two or three times – to reach the Super Bowl. 

The Bills have lost three of their last four on the road. BetMGM thinks it’s almost a “pick ‘em” – but have given the visitors a one-point edge, perhaps accounting for Allen’s big game know-how compared to Maye, who – for all his great play this season – is still learning and developing.

Ravens can end Bengals’ season

Everyone associated with the Cincinnati Bengals were thankful for Joe Burrow and the team’s medical staff after their main man returned on Turkey Day, helping them secure a vital win against the Baltimore Ravens. After losing to the Bills, however, the Bengals are one defeat away from having the stuffing knocked out of them.

They were in an almost identical situation this time last year, winning their last five games to turn a 4-8 record into 9-8 – which was enough to see them end their season on the bubble, needing a favour which didn’t ultimately come. This time around, they’ve now lost nine – guaranteeing a losing record – and “winning out” will no longer be enough. They also need plenty of other results to go their way. 

Even if it does turn out to be too little, too late, the Bengals are a much more serious outfit with Burrow back. While it may be true of every team, the team’s competitiveness and their quarterback’s health are definitely directly correlated to one another. The team had no problem scoring points with Joe Flacco, but there’s been a very different energy to the whole team in the two games Burrow has played.

The Ravens, at 6-7, are in danger of missing out too. Lamar Jackson’s return from injury had a similarly galvanising effect – they’d won four in a row up until that Thanksgiving Day clash. That defeat, however, quickly led to another loss to a division opponent as the Pittsburgh Steelers reclaimed the AFC North lead with a 22-27 win at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday.

John Harbaugh’s team have an incredibly tough run to end the season too. After this game, they’ll host the Patriots – who could be newly-crowned AFC East champions by that point, or will be fighting hard for that title – before heading to Green Bay, who’ll still be locked in a three-way fight for the NFC North and then finishing with the return (and likely decisive) fixture against the Steelers, this time in Pittsburgh. 

BetMGM are backing the Ravens by 2.5 points. They’ve been the more fundamentally sound football team over the course of the season and it’s still early days in Joe Burrow’s comeback. Apart from the first meeting between the two, where the Bengals produced four takeaways, the defence simply hasn’t been good enough – making it very hard to win games.

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Elsewhere in week 15 of the NFL

If the above three games – all from the 6pm window – don’t provide enough drama, there should be plenty more in the late window!

Most of the key players in the NFC North and NFC West races are in action here. The Los Angeles Rams host the Detroit Lions, holding a very slender lead in the West. Both they and the Seattle Seahawks are 10-3 – the Rams currently have the edge, having won their head-to-head matchup a few weeks ago. They will, however, meet again in a few days’ time. 

Not only will the Lions be a tough opponent, the Seahawks now have what appears to be a home banker against the Indianapolis Colts. Indy’s fairytale season could completely fall apart with Daniel Jones playing no further part – he tore his achilles against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.

Riley Leonard will likely start in Seattle, but the team did also sensationally bring 44-year-old Philip Rivers out of retirement this week. The San Francisco 49ers should win again too, hosting the lowly Tennessee Titans.

With wins over the Lions and the Chicago Bears, the Green Bay Packers have eked out a half-game lead in the North. Keeping hold of it won’t be easy, however. The Denver Broncos make the journey to Wisconsin on a 10-game winning streak, vying with the Patriots for the number 1 seed in the AFC. The Bears will have probably won their tenth game, against the Cleveland Browns, in the early window too. 

The Packers are, however, beginning to look Super Bowl calibre. They’re passing the ball well, they’re running the ball well, their defence has been consistently making plays at vital times. They’re just behind the Rams and Seahawks according to most bookies.

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