Monday Night Football Best Bet: Chicago Bears vs. Minnesota Vikings
Monday Night Football Best Bet: Chicago Bears vs. Minnesota Vikings
The Pick: Bears +12.5 and Under 52 (6 point teaser): -110
Well, who saw that coming.
The GOAT was shut down and the league is going to be watching that video as long as he is in Tampa. That was some performance last night an easy under, but Tampa Bay clearly doesn't care if they are the No. 1 seed, because they simply didn't show up. Injuries did hurt them, obviously, but that New Orleans defense played some game to keep the Saints' season alive.
We aren't expecting a 9-0 game tonight, but we do expect another tight, low-scoring defensive game. Division rivals who have yet to face each other at this stage in the season is rare in the NFL, but these two will play tonight and again the last week of the season.
The Bears are essentially playing for pride -- they're mathematically alive, but this is Dumb and Dumber chances of making it. Meanwhile, the Vikings playing for the playoffs.
Click here for complete Bears vs. Vikings betting odds
Checking the injuries and COVID-19 news, it looks like Adam Thielen should be back for the Vikings, while the Bears have too many guys out to list (14). In particular, Allen Robinson being out is a huge loss on offense, while the defense will be sans Khalil Mack and a chunk of the secondary. We saw this yesterday with the Ravens and it did hurt their defense, but the Ravens gave it their all against Green Bay, and we expect the same tonight from the Bears.
We all know the Vikings play tight games, as their last 10 games have been decided by eight points or less, so it's always nice to have a touchdown dog in Vikings games.
The Bears looked awesome last week...for one half. But the more you look at that game, you'll see that it was a lot of luck and that they played more like the Bears we're used to in the second half.
This is the NFL, though, and it's never what it seems. We say that because the Vikings look like an offensive juggernaut scoring 26 or more in their last six games, but scoring and how they scored are two different stories. We feel the Vikings will use Cook more now that he's back and healthy and the Bears know they have to shut down Justin Jefferson, who has looked like one of the best receivers in the NFL this year.
Everything screams over in this game with the Vikings' offense clicking and the Bears' defense missing guys. So with all that being said, why isn't this total higher?
Well, one game doesn't make a season, and there are many tricks to the trad,e but let's not forget the Bears offense is 31st in the league and 32nd in passing. Chicago is, however, eighth in rushing, so we know with a rookie passer and a good running game they will look to run and keep Minnesota offense off the field.
Chicago also has the eighth-ranked passing defense, which matches up well with the Vikings' strength on offense, as they are seventh in passing. The over is what you want to play, but given all the variables, our model likes this game to stay under 46. That said, we will try to tease this one more time, since, as we mentioned, the Vikings play close games (five of nine within four points) and every point matters with the side and total.
Let's go with this teaser and see if the Vikings' history of close games continues and the awful offense of the Bears continues to stay the course. Shockingly, Matt Nagy has beaten the Vikings in five of their last six bouts, and his defense has ceded an average of just 15 points per game in those contests.
We are taking the Bears from +6.5 to +12.5 and the under from 46 to 52 in a six-point teaser. Giving us that 7-10 cushion we feel is huge, and again, with the total, we now have 48-51 all key numbers on totals. We envision a 24-19-type game tonight, but if it's 9-0 like last night's game, we still win.