Week 8 brings another round of AFC West turbulence, and the predictions lean hard into the chaos. One pick calls for Cleveland to do something it has not managed since 1988, another has the Rams and Chargers keeping the ball tucked away for once, and the final call hands Kansas City back-to-back losses.
The Browns are rolling into a rivalry game that suddenly feels very live. Since getting crushed by the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1, Todd Monken’s team has stacked up a 5-1 record, and every one of those games has been decided by five points or fewer.
Pittsburgh comes in with the kind of series edge that usually swallows underdogs whole, owning a 74-35 advantage over Cleveland, including playoffs, since the 1970 merger. But four weeks ago on Thursday night in Cleveland, the Browns beat the Steelers 27-24.
Mike McCarthy’s group has won three straight, is 3-0 at home, and now faces a Browns offense that has enough playmakers to bother Pittsburgh’s erratic defense. The bold call: Cleveland finishes the sweep for the first time since 1988.
The second prediction stays in Los Angeles, where two teams that made the postseason a year ago have gone in very different directions. Sean McVay’s Rams and Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers both reached the playoffs through the wild card route last season, but this year the Chargers are 0-6 and the Rams sit at 3-4.
They meet Sunday at their shared stadium, where the Chargers are winless in three home games and the Rams are 1-2 there. Both teams have been careless with the football all season: the Chargers lead the league with 15 turnovers in six games, while the Rams have coughed it up 11 times in seven.
Even so, the prediction has McVay’s team coming away with the win in a rare clean game for both sides.
Then there’s Denver, where the first-place Chiefs are expected to take another hit. Kansas City’s first loss came last Sunday night at Lumen Field, when the Seattle Seahawks held Kenneth Walker III to 36 yards and limited Andy Reid’s offense to 213 total yards in a 20-3 win.
That sent the Chiefs into Week 8 after their first stumble of 2026. Now they head to Denver for a rematch with Sean Payton’s Broncos, who were beaten 31-10 by Kansas City in the season’s first Monday night game.
This time, the prediction flips the script: Denver adds to its takeaway total of 10, picks off Patrick Mahomes twice, returns one for a touchdown, and hands the Chiefs a second straight defeat.
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