NFL Week 16 Monday Night Football : Chargers at Colts

NFL WEEK 16 MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: Chargers at Colts Odds and Best Bets

NFL WEEK 16 MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: CHARGERS AT COLTS ODDS AND BEST BETS - The Los Angeles Chargers (8-6) head to Lucas Oil Stadium in scenic Indianapolis to take on the shellshocked Colts (4-9-1). The Colts are one week removed from blowing a 33-0 halftime lead, allowing the Vikings to complete the greatest comeback in history. The Chargers have righted the ship after some early season struggles and barring some sort of major disaster, should sneak into the playoffs with a wild card bid.

Can the Chargers continue their push towards the postseason? Is the sky falling in Indianapolis? Is the golden boy Jeff Saturday suddenly on the hot seat after a hot start? Will Nick Foles be worse than newly-benched Matt Ryan? All will be revealed.

Chargers/Colts Betting Trends

Nick Foles is 6-9 SU as an underdog of 4.5 points or more in his career, yielding a 60% ROI on the money line.
Justin Herbert is 13-15-1 ATS as a favorite in his career.
Herbert and the Chargers are 2-3 SU and 1-3-1 ATS this season after a win by 3 points or less.
The Chargers have eight wins this season with five of them coming by a margin of 3 points or less; they have covered a 5 point spread only once all season.
Nick Foles is 3-10 SU in his last thirteen starts dating back to his time in Philadelphia, though he did beat the Seahawks while starting for the Bears last season as a 7 point 'dog.
Both the Chargers and Colts allow more than 24 points per game. Since 2016, teams that both allow more than 24 PPG in December or later cash the under in 56% of their games played against each other.

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Nate's Pick

I think this is the ultimate buy-low spot for the Colts after an absolutely horrific meltdown last week against the Vikings. Matt Ryan, who holds the distinction of blowing the biggest Super Bowl lead of all time when the Patriots came roaring back after getting down 28-3 against the Falcons in 2017, added another notch to his facemark when he blew the biggest lead in NFL regular season history. Matt Ryan will be holding a clipboard for this game, and Nick Foles will emerge from the shadows to start this week.

It's been something of a quarterback carousel in Indy with Matt Ryan and Sam Ehlinger trading starts at various points, but now this desperate Colts team turns to Philadelphia legend, Nick Foles. Nick Foles hasn't played a ton lately, though he did steal a win in his only start last season for the Bears when they beat Seattle as a touchdown underdog.

The Chargers have struggled to put teams away all season and they've consistently needed late game heroics to steal wins. Some of this is simply due to the fact that Los Angeles has dealt with a mind-boggling array of injuries on both offense and defense, but I'm not sure they are built to just bury a team.

The Colts are feisty. Don't forget that they were up 33-0 against a Vikings team with a 12-3 record. They can play well. They just can't pair their greatest first half of the season with their worst second half of the season and expect to win many games. Particularly against a team as explosive as the Vikings.

Matt Ryan has not played well all season and Sam Ehlinger was worse. I'm not really sure that Nick Foles is a downgrade in this spot. Hell, for all we know he might be the best quarterback on the team, we just haven't seen him play yet. Some of it is just politics. Matt Ryan has the big contract and Ehlinger was the young guy they wanted to see in a game. We know what Nick Foles is (a journeyman and SB champion), so it's not surprising he kept getting skipped over until now.

Last week aside, the Colts are generally competent on defense and the Chargers are a team that makes life difficult for themselves.

Looks for a feisty and embarrassed Colts team to redeem themselves in primetime against a Chargers team that always seems to stub its toe in big spots.

NFL Week 16 Monday Night Football : Chargers at Colts