If you time-travel back to Week 1 of the NFL season, these Christmas Day games had the perfect mix of young contenders and established vets involved in intense divisional matchups with playoff implications.
Unfortunately, injuries have pretty much derailed that idea. What we’re left with is only two teams out of six fighting for a playoff spot while you open presents and drink eggnog. But since when have playoff implications mattered to bettors on a holiday? NFL odds were made to make these kinds of games interesting.
Here’s a preview of the Christmas Day games with their NFL odds.
View the latest NFL odds at Bovada
Christmas Day Games
Dallas Cowboys (8-7) at Washington Commanders (4-11)
- Start: December 25 at 1 p.m. ET on Netflix
- Current Spread: Cowboys –3
- Current Total: 51
With the Philadelphia Eagles’ win last week, the Cowboys were eliminated from the playoffs and don’t have much left to play for besides pride. They’d also like to snap a three-game losing streak that turned a promising season into a nightmare.
Meanwhile, the Commanders sealed their fate early in the season with second-year quarterback Jayden Daniels’ inability to stay healthy. Even more depressing is that they probably won’t even have backup QB Marcus Mariota to manage the game; he’s day-to-day with hand and quad injuries.
That leaves the Commanders with 18-year vet Josh Johnson under center, a QB that hasn’t started a game since 2021 – he split time with the New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens. They’ll be relying on their top-five running game to carry them, which averages 133.9 rushing yards per game.
The Cowboys are 7-3 straight up (SU) and 8-2 against the spread (ATS) in the last 10 meetings between these NFC East squads – including five straight ATS wins.
Detroit Lions (8-7) at Minnesota Vikings (7-8)
- Start: December 25 at 4:30 p.m. ET on Netflix
- Current Spread: Detroit -5.5
- Current Total: 45.5
With a loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 16, the Lions have a 16% chance of making the playoffs. They’ll need to win their final two games while praying that Green Bay loses to the Baltimore Ravens this weekend and to the Vikings in Week 18. Meanwhile, the Vikings have nothing to play for except playing spoiler to an old division rival.
But how did it come to this? The Lions cruised to two straight division titles and were expected to contend for the Super Bowl this year. Unfortunately, their defense has continued to regress, and their offense can’t fill the gaps. While they’ve allowed a solid 24.6 points per game on the season, they’ve averaged 31.8 points against the last three weeks, putting pressure on their offense to keep up.
This should give the Vikings offense a chance to rebound after posting just 16 points and 126 passing yards in a win over the 2-13 New York Giants. Unfortunately, the Vikings may be without their starting QB, as J.J. McCarthy suffered an injury to his right throwing hand. The X-rays came back negative, but it’d be shocking if he’s available on a short week. That leaves rookie Max Brosmer to make his second start this season. He last started in Week 13 against Seattle, throwing for just 126 yards with four interceptions.
Detroit is 6-4 SU but a shocking 9-1 ATS in their last 10 meetings with the Vikings. However, Minnesota did win and cover as 9.5-point underdogs in their last meeting on Week 9 of this season.
Denver Broncos (12-3) at Kansas City Chiefs (6-9)
- Start: December 25 at 8:15 p.m. ET on Prime Video
- Current Spread: Broncos -12
- Current Total: 37.5
Despite having an 11-game win streak this season, the Broncos could lose their division lead if they don’t handle the Chiefs on Christmas Day.
They’ve been a resilient squad all year behind fourth-quarter comebacks led by second-year QB Bo Nix. But the well ran dry against a Jacksonville squad that has been on a six-game winning streak itself.
Ultimately, if the Broncos come ready to play Thursday night, there’s no reason they shouldn’t win and cover. The mighty Chiefs lost QB Patrick Mahomes to a torn ACL in Week 15, then proceeded to lose their backup, Gardner Minshew, to the same injury in Week 16.
With a third-string practice squad QB, they looked lifeless against the 3-12 Tennessee Titans, losing 26-9 and failing to cover the -3.5 spread.
Despite having to face Mahomes every year, the Broncos have an impressive 8-2 ATS record against the Chiefs in their last 10 meetings. Denver has also beaten the Chiefs in three of the last four meetings, covering in four straight games.