Avello referred to the Kansas City star quarterback who left the game near the end of the third quarter with a concussion. Mahomes, the MVP of last season’s Super Bowl, was replaced by career backup Chad Henne, who led Kansas City to a field goal, but the Browns roared back with a TD to close the gap to 22-17 setting the stage for a possible upset.

However, when the Kansas City got the ball back with just over four minutes left, Henne managed the Chiefs offense to a pair of first downs to run out the clock and set up next week’s AFC championship with Buffalo, winners over Baltimore on Saturday.

Waiting on Mahomes Injury Update

Meanwhile, with difference-maker Mahomes now in the NFL’s concussion protocol, the betting world is in a quandary. Sunday night in the early lines, the Chiefs were listed as 3-point favorites but that’s just a starting point given the uncertainty of Mahomes’ status.

“We put up a line at 3 and we took some early money on the Bills,” Stoneback said. “It’s tough and we won’t take any big bets until we know what Mahomes is going to do, whether he’ll play or not. … It does make it tough on us not knowing. If this were the regular season, we wouldn’t have a line on it at all until we were sure whether he was going to play or not. But obviously for the championship game, we have to hang a line.”

The same is true at DraftKings.

“It’s at 3 and that’s in the middle,” Avello said. “If it becomes clear that Mahomes is going to play, that number is going to go up some. In a game like this, you want to get something (posted). … This is a safe line to get up and people will be able to get action but obviously, we’ll keep a close eye on Mahomes.”

Packers Deliver for Bettors

In other Divisional Round games, the betting public made its biggest score on the Packers’ 32-18 win over the L.A. Rams at Lambeau Field on Saturday. Green Bay, a 7-point favorite and a darling of the betting public, covered the spread, plus the Over (45) points also got there for the public.

At BetRivers, 88% of the money line handle was on Green Bay and 70% of the handle was on the Over. At PointsBet, the story was the same with 88% of the spread handle on Green Bay and 57% of the handle on the Over. And at FanDuel, 86% of the spread handle was on the Packers and 70% of the handle was on the Over.

For BetMGM, the weeklong rush of bets on the Packers was eased by a single $300,000 losing wager on the Rams.

Buccaneers are Underdogs in NFC Title Game

The Packers are 4-point favorites in next week’s NFC championship against visiting Tampa Bay.

The Buccaneers (+3 to +2.5 underdogs Sunday) advanced by beating New Orleans on the road, 30-20. The point spread betting was relatively even but generally the wagers skewed toward the Saints. Bettors who could get 3 or 3.5 went with Tampa Bay and when the line slipped to 2.5, the money went with New Orleans. MGM took a pair of $100,000 bets on New Orleans.

The Baltimore Ravens-Bills game in Buffalo was an outcome that made the public some money with favored Buffalo (-2.5) covering, 17-3, but strong winds helped hold down the scoring and the Over (50) bettors had no chance.