Bears vs. Ravens Point Spread: NFL Pre-Season Hall-of-Fame Week Odds, Prediction
The Baltimore Ravens are slight Sports Interaction favourites over the Chicago Bears.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
Let’s just get this out of the way now: What a team does in the preseason has no bearing on how it might finish in the regular season – assuming no majors injuries in the exhibition games (a few will happen). Need proof? The Cleveland Browns were 4-0 last preseason and then became the second team in league history to go 0-16 when it counted and were outscored by a whopping 176 points.
That said, some coaches do like to win regardless. One such guy appears to be the Baltimore Ravens’ John Harbaugh as he is a crazy 28-12 in his preseason head coaching career. Baltimore has finished 4-0 in three of the past four exhibition seasons. We don’t know anything about Chicago Bears coach Matt Nagy as this is his head coaching debut. He was formerly the offensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Chicago Bears
Most coaches will tell you they don’t want their team playing in the Hall of Fame Game because that means their club will play in five exhibition games instead of four and only bad things can happen with an extra meaningless game. One benefit is the NFL allows teams in this game to report to training camp earlier than the rest. That’s especially important for a club like the Bears with Nagy, who is overhauling the offence. That’s where Chicago focused most of its offseason attention, including signing receivers Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel and tight end Trey Burton.
The club also drafted receiver Anthony Miller out of Memphis in Round 2. However, Chicago’s first-round pick was Georgia linebacker Roquan Smith, but Bears fans won’t get a look at him Thursday as Smith is still holding out as of this writing. The Bears are 4-0 all time in this game, last playing in 2005.
Baltimore Ravens
While most starters may not play at all or very briefly, the Ravens even have less of a reason to play them because this is a veteran team and Harbaugh has been the coach since 2008. Some believe if Baltimore misses the playoffs a fourth straight year that Harbaugh could be a goner. The main thing Ravens fans likely will be looking forward to Thursday is the NFL debut of former Louisville Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Lamar Jackson. The Ravens traded back into the end of the first round to take Jackson, who has been compared to Michael Vick. Jackson might not take starting QB Joe Flacco’s job this season, but it’s coming.
Baltimore has another former Heisman winner in the backup QB mix as well in Robert Griffin III. It’s the first time the Ravens have played in the Hall of Fame Game. Baltimore did lose at home last regular season to Chicago 27-24 in overtime in Week 6. Take nothing from that in regards to Thursday.
