Simulation Picks
Maximize Your Odds of Winning with SportsLine Model and Our Top-Rated Picks!
Maximize Your Odds of Winning with SportsLine Model and Our Top-Rated Picks!
Maximize Your Odds of Winning with SportsLine Model and Our Top-Rated Picks!
Understanding Public and Money
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Expert Picks
This is the fourth year in a row that these two teams are facing off in a primetime showdown. The previous three produced an average of 26.3 points. Both teams are elite defensively. Although the Rams upgraded at quarterback, the Bears know Matthew Stafford's tendencies well. Go Under.
The Rams defense lost faces from last season's No. 1-ranked unit, including the defensive coordinator, but new coordinator Raheem Morris isn’t changing the successful 3-4 scheme that allows the best defensive player, Aaron Donald, to thrive. The play on the Under is about the Rams defense and Bears quarterback Andy Dalton trying to score on that unit. Under is the play.
I'll admit that I'm higher on the Bears than most, as I see a team that has dealt with QB issues over all of Matt Nagy's three seasons and still finished 8-8 or better with Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles at quarterback. Andy Dalton might be up against last year's No. 1 defense, but it's a unit that lost several key players from last year as well as the defensive coordinator who brought it all together. I think this is a lower-scoring game, and as a result, I think it'll be hard for the Rams to win by more than a TD. Plus I love that the public is overwhelmingly on the Rams here.
While I will wait until Friday-ish to pick most NFL spreads, I don't need to on this total because the game is almost surely going to be very low-scoring -- it's the fourth straight year they play and the first three were all such. Yeah, the Rams upgraded at QB with Matthew Stafford, but the Bears downgraded with Andy Dalton and their offensive line might be the NFL's worst. I see no chance that Chicago scores more than 17 points and am fairly confident that pretty-good Bears defense can hold the Rams under 30.
Just play this game out in your head. How do you think it's going to go? No one in the NFL takes the preseason less seriously than Sean McVay so you'll be seeing LA's starters for the first time (including new QB Matthew Stafford), not to mention the Rams look to win games 24-10 and move on. Then look at the other side, how many points do you think Andy Dalton is leading the Bears to against this Rams defense? Also, the Under is a perfect 3-0 between McVay and Nagy. It could be 30-13 and we still cover. Take the Under.
Team Injuries
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