NFL Week 17 Picks Straight Up: Best Bets To Win Are 49ers, Chiefs, Cowboys

When making picks for NFL Week 17, a few teams stand out as the most likely straight-up winners. It would be a major upset if either the Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers or Dallas Cowboys suffer a loss on the upcoming schedule.

The Chiefs, 49ers and Cowboys are all favored by double digits in Week 17. A moneyline parlay for all three teams to win has -152 odds at DraftKings Sportsbook.

Here's a closer look at the best NFL Week 17 picks straight up.

Kansas City Chiefs (vs. Denver Broncos)

The only positive for the Broncos is that their season can only go up from here. A 51-14 drubbing at the hands of the injury-riddled Rams on Christmas Day was rock bottom for Denver, prompting the organization to fire Nathaniel Hackett 14 games into his head coaching career. The Broncos are eight games behind the Chiefs with nothing on the line. Kansas City is still in the hunt for the No. 1 seed and brings a 14-game winning streak against Denver into Week 17.

Denver's only hope of remaining competitive has been a strong performance by its defense, but the unit is no longer playing like one of the league's best. Two weeks before giving up 51 points to the Rams, the Broncos allowed the Chiefs to go for 431 yards in a 34-28 defeat. Sunday's game should be the exclamation mark on Patrick Mahomes' MVP campaign.

San Francisco 49ers (at Las Vegas Raiders)

The Raiders just about ended their chances of upsetting the 49ers by deciding to bench Derek Carr for Jarrett Stidham. Las Vegas is making a quarterback change to keep Carr injury-free, not to improve their odds of winning. Stidham has not made a start since entering the league in 2019. The quarterback and his career 52.8 passer rating stand little hope of beating the No. 1 defense in football.

The betting line moved from six points to 10 points after it was announced that Carr was benched. The Raiders were unlikely to win straight up even if the veteran was in line to start. San Francisco is the hottest team in the league. The 49ers have outscored opponents by 133 points during their eight-game winning streak.

Dallas Cowboys (vs. Tennessee Titans)

The Titans have nothing to play for Thursday night, and their lineup is likely to reflect that fact. Derrick Henry and Jeffery Simmons could sit as they rest up for Tennessee's Week 18 de facto AFC South title game against Jacksonville. The Titans and coach Mike Vrabel were in a similar situation before. They chose to sit Henry in the second-to-last game of the 2019 season so that he would be healthy for a win-and-get-in game in the finale. Tennessee is already without Ryan Tannehill. Malik Willis has proven to be one of the league's worst backup quarterbacks.

The Cowboys still have plenty on the line. A win would keep Dallas in contention for the NFC East title and the No. 1 seed in the conference until at least Sunday when the Philadelphia Eagles play. Since Dak Prescott's return from injury in Week 7, Dallas is averaging 36.0 points per game. Tennessee is scoring 15.2 points per game during its five-game losing streak.