Bears vs. Packers Point Spread: NFL Week 1 Odds, Prediction
Could there a better Week 1 Sunday night game than the NFL’s oldest rivalry? Chicago visits Green Bay in prime time, with the Packers as one of the biggest favourites on the Sports Interaction board.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
The Green Bay Packers have a chance to win Super Bowl LIII and the Chicago Bears don’t. OK, that seems obvious on its face as the Packers are +900 to win the big game next Feb. 3 in Atlanta, tied with the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles for the second-shortest odds behind the New England Patriots (+500). Interestingly, though, the Packers are only +137 co-favourites to win the NFC North Division with the Minnesota Vikings, who claimed it last season. The Bears are +700 division long shots.
We say the Packers have a shot at winning the Super Bowl because each of the past 10 champions has finished with at least a .500 pre-season record. Green Bay was 2-2, barely playing superstar QB Aaron Rodgers. That rules out the Bears, not that they had much of a chance at Super Bowl odds of +10000 – tied for longest with the New York Jets. Chicago finished 2-3 in the pre-season; the Bears and Ravens were the only two teams to play five exhibition games.
The favourite is 11-4 against the spread in the past 15 meetings, and that has almost always been Green Bay. The Packers swept the Bears last year and have lost just twice in this series since 2011.
Chicago Bears
The Bears are a bit of an enigma entering the season on the offensive side because their new head coach Matt Nagy, the former Kansas City offensive coordinator, kept things very vanilla in the pre-season and rarely played his main guys. He shocked many by sitting QB Mitch Trubisky in the third week of the pre-season when the starters usually play a half. Interesting because the inexperienced Trubisky has four new receivers in Allen Robinson (Jaguars), Taylor Gabriel (Falcons), Anthony Miller (rookie) and Trey Burton (Eagles; technically a tight end but in reality a receiver).
Chicago drafted linebacker Roquan Smith in the first round of this year’s draft, but he didn’t play a snap in the pre-season due to holdout and then injury. Smith should be ready for Week 1 but perhaps not start.
Green Bay Packers
Green Bay assured that the future Hall of Famer Rodgers, the Sports Interaction +505 favourite to win a third NFL MVP award, would be a Packer for life by making him the highest-paid player in league history recently. The Packers’ 2017 season went in the tank when Rodgers broke his collarbone Week 6 in Minnesota. Green Bay finished 7-9, its first losing season and first time missing the playoffs since Rodgers’ first year as a starter in 2008.
The Pack open without running back Aaron Jones, suspended the first two games. In their past 10 at home vs. Chicago, the Packers have outscored the Bears a combined 275-134. It was 35-14 last year. They’ll win again here, but Chicago can stay within a TD.
