{"id":670035,"date":"2026-01-11T23:59:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T23:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/670035\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T23:59:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T23:59:20","slug":"chargers-vs-patriots-prediction-odds-2026-wild-card-weekend-nfl-picks-by-proven-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/670035\/","title":{"rendered":"Chargers vs. Patriots prediction, odds: 2026 Wild Card Weekend NFL picks by proven model"},"content":{"rendered":"

The seventh-seeded Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> battle the second-seeded New England Patriots<\/a> in a 2026 Wild Card Weekend matchup on ‘Sunday Night Football.’ Los Angeles is coming off a 19-3 loss at Denver in Week 18, while New England cruised to a 38-10 win over the Miami Dolphins. The Chargers (11-6), who finished second in the AFC West, are 5-3 on the road this season. The Patriots (14-3), who were champions of the AFC East, are 6-3 on their home field. Omarion Hampton (ankle) is active for Los Angeles, as is Kayshon Boutte (hamstring) for New England.<\/p>\n

Kickoff from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., is set for 8 p.m. ET. The Pats lead the all-time series 27-17-2, including a 3-1 edge in the postseason. The Patriots are 3.5-point favorites in the latest Chargers vs. Patriots odds, while the over\/under for total points scored is 45.5 via DraftKings Sportsbooks. New England is at -198 on the money line (risk $198 to win $100), with L.A. priced at +164 (risk $100 to win $164). Before making any Patriots vs. Chargers picks,\u00a0check out the NFL predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The model, which simulates every NFL game 10,000 times, is up well over $7,000 for $100 players on top-rated\u00a0NFL picks<\/a>\u00a0since its inception. The model enters the 2026 NFL playoffs on a 53-37 run on top-rated picks dating back to 2024. Anybody following its\u00a0NFL betting<\/a>\u00a0picks at\u00a0sportsbooks<\/a>\u00a0and on\u00a0betting sites<\/a>\u00a0could have seen strong returns.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, the model has set its sights on\u00a0Chargers vs. Patriots<\/a>. You can\u00a0visit SportsLine now to see the picks<\/a>. Here are the\u00a0NFL odds<\/a>\u00a0and trends for Patriots vs. Chargers:<\/p>\n

Chargers vs. Patriots spread<\/p>\n

New England -3.5 at DraftKings Sportsbook<\/p>\n

Chargers vs. Patriots over\/under<\/p>\n

45.5 points<\/p>\n

Chargers vs. Patriots money line\u00a0<\/p>\n

New England -198, Chargers +164<\/p>\n

Chargers vs. Patriots picks<\/p>\n

See picks at SportsLine<\/a><\/p>\n

Chargers vs. Patriots streaming\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fubo<\/a>\u00a0(Try for free) \u00a0Why the Patriots can cover<\/p>\n

New England is led by second-year quarterback Drake Maye<\/a>. The third pick in the 2024 NFL Draft played in 17 games this season, completing 72% of his passes for 4,394 yards and 31 touchdowns with eight interceptions and a 113.5 rating. He also rushed 103 times for 450 yards and four touchdowns. In a 28-24 win at Baltimore on Dec. 21, he completed 31 of 44 passes for 380 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. He also rushed 10 times for 25 yards.<\/p>\n

His top target was veteran wide receiver Stefon Diggs<\/a>. In 17 games, Diggs caught 85 passes for 1,013 yards (11.9 average) and four touchdowns. He had 17 explosive plays of 20 yards or more, including a long of 34, with 354 yards after the catch and 51 first-down conversions. In a 42-10 win over the New York Jets on Dec. 28, he caught six passes for 101 yards and a score. The veteran has 909 receiving yards across his 14-game postseason career.\u00a0See which team to back at SportsLine<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why the Chargers can cover<\/p>\n

Veteran quarterback Justin Herbert<\/a> leads the Los Angeles offense. In 16 games this season, he completed 66.4% of his passes for 3,727 yards and 26 touchdowns with 13 interceptions and a 94.1 rating. He also rushed 83 times for 498 yards and two touchdowns. In a 34-17 win at Dallas on Dec. 21, he completed 23 of 29 passes for 300 yards and two scores.<\/p>\n

Among his top targets is second-year veteran Ladd McConkey<\/a>. In 16 games this season, he caught 66 passes for 789 yards (12.0 average) and six touchdowns. He had eight explosive plays of 20 yards or more, including a long of 58, with 310 yards after the catch and 35 first-down conversions. In the win at Dallas, he caught four passes for 43 yards and a score. McConkey also had a highly impressive postseason debut last year, posting a 9-197-1 stat line in his lone game.\u00a0See which team to back at SportsLine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How to make Chargers vs. Patriots picks<\/p>\n

SportsLine’s model is going Over on the total, projecting 48 combined points. It also says one side of the spread hits in well over 50% of simulations. You can only get the pick at SportsLine.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

So who wins Patriots vs. Chargers, and which side of the spread hits well over 50% of the time?\u00a0Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Chargers vs. Patriots spread to jump on, all from the advanced model that finished up over $7,000 on its NFL picks since its inception<\/a>, and find out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The seventh-seeded Los Angeles Chargers battle the second-seeded New England Patriots in a 2026 Wild Card Weekend matchup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[1107,97073,97462,97075,7,262,249,6,97465,97463,97464,95037],"class_list":{"0":"post-670035","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-betting","9":"tag-chargers-patriots-odds","10":"tag-chargers-patriots-picks","11":"tag-chargers-patriots-prediction","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","14":"tag-new-england-patriots","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-nfl-sunday-night-football-odds","17":"tag-nfl-sunday-night-football-picks","18":"tag-nfl-sunday-night-football-predictions","19":"tag-wild-card-weekend"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115879186552209781","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}