The Chicago Bears and the San Diego Chargers both felt like they were going to be a little bit better than this in 2015. Instead, they each have just two wins coming into their Week 9 clash on Monday Night Football, and both have more of an eye on 2016 than anything else.
ODDS ANALYSIS
The Chargers are the favorites in this game, but it sure isn't convincing. They opened up at -4.5 and dipped to -4, insinuating that they're basically just barely better than the Bears in the eyes of the oddsmakers.
The total has dropped from 52 all the way down to 49 in the steepest drop a total has had in Week 9.
KEY INJURIES
Matt Forte – Out for at least two weeks with a sprained MCL suffered last week. Jeremy Langford will make his first career start in Forte's place.
Eddie Royal – Doubtful with a knee injury he picked up last week against Minnesota. The Bears are already thin at wide receiver with Kevin White not playing a down this year. Marquess Wilson will have to spend more time on the field as a result.
Brandon Flowers – Questionable with a knee injury for the Chargers. Unfortunately for San Diego, it suffered a whopping 13 injuries last week against Baltimore in a loss, and Flowers is one of three corners and five total members of the secondary who are at least dinged up, if not already ruled out for this game.
Keenan Allen – Placed on IR thanks to a kidney laceration, putting an abrupt end to his season. The Chargers will now be counting on Malcom Floyd and Stevie Johnson to pick up the slack at wide out.
KEY MISMATCH
Our biggest question in this game is who is going to cover Alshon Jeffrey? Jeffrey has only played in three games this year, and in those games, he's gone off for 78, 147 and 116 yards. He's got 18 receptions in his last two games combined and has found the end zone in both duels.
The Chargers, as we just mentioned, have a tremendously banged up secondary. As it is, this defense has allowed quarterbacks to post a stunningly high 100.9 quarterback rating against them, and opponents are averaging 12.1 yards per pass completion.
If there's a man who can break this game open, it's Jeffrey.
KEY STAT
2 – The number of rushing touchdowns which the Chargers have this year, both of which were courtesy of Danny Woodhead, not rookie rusher Melvin Gordon. Philip Rivers and the Bolts have called a very high 373 passing plays this year against just 192 on the ground, so it shouldn't be surprising that the team has a great imbalance in passing touchdowns ( 19 ) to rushing touchdowns ( two ).
BETTING ANGLE
The Chargers are just 1-8 ATS in their last nine games played here at Qualcomm Stadium. They've only covered one game this year at home, and that required staging a huge comeback in Week 1 against Detroit to pull out the 33-28 win. Since then, the Bolts have failed to cover against Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Oakland here at home.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
Both of these teams have been bitten hard by the injury bug, and we don't see the season ending well for either squad. The Bears aren't ready to be legitimate contenders in Year 1 of the John Fox era, while the Chargers just can't seem to stop getting unlucky.
However, the common thread in Chargers games this year is that they're all close; only one of the eight have been decided by more than one score. Take the points with the Bears, though it's anyone's guess who actually ultimately wins this game SU.
San Diego 26, Chicago 23
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Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook! The Week 9 duel between the Chicago Bears and the San Diego Chargers will take place at Qualcomm Stadium on Monday, November 9, 2015. This 8:30 p.m. ET kickoff can be seen live on ESPN.
