Just in case you were wondering, the AFC will run through Foxboro again this season. The New England Patriots won a statement game on Sunday night, sending the Chiefs to their first loss of the season in a matchup that makes the NFL the wonderful visual spectacle that it is. On the other side the Chicago Bears might be ready to contend in the NFC, but they proved to be young and inconsistent with a frustrating game against the Dolphins. Playing a backup quarterback, the Bears defense was gouged in what should be a wake-up call to the group. The Bears better be awake on Sunday with Tom Brady and Co. in town as a 3.5-point favorite on the NFL betting line.
Watch this Week 7 regular season matchup live on Sunday, October 21, 2018, at 1 p.m. ET at Soldier Field.
Opening NFL Odds at BookMaker.eu
New England Patriots -3.5
Chicago Bears +3.5
Over/Under 49.5
Apparently the bye came at a bad time for the Bears, who were rolling before taking Week 5 off. Upon returning to action, the Bears had a tilt with the Fins on the docket and they caught what should’ve been a huge break when it was learned Ryan Tannehill wouldn’t play because of an injury. Now, the Bears are definitely improved over previous years, but they aren’t good enough to be expecting a victory over an undermanned Dolphins team.
If anything I think the Bears learned a valuable lesson from their showdown with the Fins, and that’s that they still need to play the game the right way. For as good as the Bears looked on defense in the first few weeks of the season, they looked just awful on Sunday when Brock Osweiler carved them up. Yes, Brock Osweiler, the same guy exiled from Houston after he couldn’t hit his ass with both hands. If the Bears were going to have a bad day on defense, better to have it earlier in the season than later.
We had some uncharacteristic moments from the Bears last week. First off they allowed 541 yards of offense to the Dolphins, who are by no means the 2000 St. Louis Rams greatest show on turf team. And more disturbing, the Bears were unable to pressure or sack Osweiler. For the first time this season the Bears went without a sack. And they’ll be hard pressed to pick up the pace against Brady and the Pats, who have allowed just eight sacks on the year.
We expect Brady and the Pats to be efficient on offense and that’s been the case. Brady threw for 340 yards and a touchdown and the Chiefs had no answer for him. The Pats carved up 500 yards of offense and needed every bit of them to get the winning score on a last second field goal. The Pats played over the closing total for a second straight game and will see a total nearing 50 again this week. While it isn’t there yet, there’s a good chance the total spikes before kickoff. And then during the game use the live betting feature at BookMaker.eu to take advantage of the adjusted spreads and totals.
The Bears have experienced a transformation with Mitchell Trubisky, who has grasped the concepts of Matt Nagy’s offense and put together his two finest games as an NFL quarterback. Trubisky threw for 316 yards and three scores against the Dolphins, one game after tossing six scoring passes and 354 yards in a win over Tampa Bay.
The off week certainly didn’t affect Trubisky and the offense as much as it did the defense. But a costly Trubisky interception and goal line fumble by Jordan Howard thwarted any kind of momentum the team had built. Still, the Bears are far from the group we saw the last three years under John Fox and they’ve been efficient when not turning the ball over.
They resemble the Chiefs in a lot of ways, maybe because Nagy was Andy Reid’s OC the last two years. And we saw KC average 8.4 yards per play on Monday night. The Bears can hit a few big plays of their own and that’ll keep this game interesting and close. The total is well within reach and I expect the Bears to be a more fired up after what happened in Florida. Hang tight with the Bears on the adjusted live betting lines and should things go against them early on, don’t panic. The home team could be had at a better price which only makes them more enticing.
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