Eagles vs. Chiefs predictions: Expert picks for Week 11 Monday Night Football matchup

The Eagles are about to enter an incredibly tough stretch of football games, one that fans and analysts have been pointing to since the Birds’ schedule was first released.

It features an NFC championship rematch vs. the San Fransisco 49ers, as well as games against the Bills, Cowboys, and Seahawks. But the biggest game of them all is the one that starts this tough five-game run: a Super Bowl LVII rematch — and potential Super Bowl LVIII preview — against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Both teams are currently in first place in their respective conferences. They feature two of the top quarterbacks in the game in Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes — not to mention two of the biggest names in the NFL this season in Jason and Travis Kelce. The brothers host the popular “New Heights” podcast, but that’s just the beginning: The former is one of People’s sexiest men alive and the latter is dating Taylor Swift. And while it now appears that Swift won’t be in attendance after rescheduling one of her weekend shows to Monday night, there’s still no shortage of buzz around this game.

» READ MORE: How Travis Kelce convinced Taylor Swift’s dad to abandon his Eagles fandom

As for what to expect on the field, both teams should be well rested coming off their bye weeks. The Chiefs, sporting the home-field advantage, are 2.5-point favorites in this one, according to FanDuel. But do football writers and analysts both locally and nationally think?

As we do each week, let’s take a look at some predictions, starting with our own beat writers …

Inquirer beat writer predictions

It’s been rare this season to see any of our four Eagles beat writers — Jeff McLane, EJ Smith, Josh Tolentino, and Olivia Reiner — pick against the Birds, and for good reason. Rarer still is seeing multiple writers pick again the Eagles. But a majority picking against them? That’s something we haven’t seen yet this season.

Is that the case in this week’s Super Bowl rematch? Or is it actually worse — are all four predicting an Eagles loss? You’ll have to click over to find out. But what we will tell you is that EJ is predicting the Chiefs come away victorious. Here’s a snippet of his pick:

Overall, this feels like a close game that the Eagles are somewhat due to drop, especially against the bye-week aficionado Reid with a home-field advantage. If a well-rested Hurts can play the way he did in February, anything can happen. But just like that evening near Phoenix, that might not be enough against such a talented Chiefs team capable of erasing leads in a hurry.

Prediction: Chiefs 27, Eagles 24

EJ Smith

For the rest of his prediction — and all of our beat writers’ picks — check out our full Week 11 predictions here.

National media predictions

Here’s what those around the country think about Monday’s game between the Eagles and Chiefs …

ESPN.com: It’s 5-4 in favor of the Chiefs, which is as close to 50-50 as you can get with an odd number of predictions. Given the 2.5-point spread favoring the home team, it could be a pretty even split.
NFL.com: Four of their five NFL editors are picking against the Eagles, but none of those four have the Birds losing by more than a field goal.
CBS Sports: Six of their seven football writers are taking the Chiefs straight up. And just two are taking the Eagles even with the 2.5 points.
Sports Illustrated: Five of their seven MMQB writers are taking Kansas City. So much for it being a somewhat even split …

» READ MORE: Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes’ historic step for Black QBs has set them up as the ‘face of the whole league’

The Ringer: The Ringer’s Sheil Kapadia makes his picks against the spread. This week, he’s taking the Chiefs to win and cover.
Yahoo Sports: Frank Schwab also picks against the spread, but he’s taking the Eagles and the 2.5 points — however, he doesn’t mention whether or not they’ll actually pull off the upset.
The Athletic: Just four of their 12 experts are predicting an Eagles’ win.
USA TODAY: Three of their eight football writers are backing the Birds.

» READ MORE: A Donna Kelce shirt is raising money for the school that produced Jason and Travis ahead of Eagles-Chiefs

Pro Football Talk: Mike Florio and Chris Simms are split this week, but both agree that it’ll be a close — and high-scoring — game.
Bleacher Report: We’ve finally found and Eagles-leaning group. With five of their seven experts taking the Birds, their consensus pick is a two-point Eagles’ win.
Sporting News: Both Bill Bender and Vinnie Iyer have the Chiefs winning and covering the spread.