Broncos vs. Bears Point Spread: NFL Week 4 Odds, Prediction
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Edgar Chaput
How bad can things get for the Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears? It’s not merely that the losses are piling up, but the manner in which the cards are falling. In Week 3 the Bears were crushed by the Kansas City Chiefs 41-10 in an embarrassing display. If you thought that was bad, the Broncos were washed away by the Dolphins by a remarkable score of 70-20.
The NFL odds have pinned Denver as a -3.5 favourite.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
Denver-Chicago encounters are a rare thing. We have to go back in time to 2007 just to know what happened the last four times they’ve met, less than a handful. Said matchups were split 2-2, with the most recent being a 2019 clash in the Mile High City claimed by the visiting Bears, 16-14.
The Broncos have seen everything go awry thus far. Not only are they winless in the standings, but since they were favoured in Weeks 1 and 2 and lost by an unfathomable 50 points last week, it goes without saying the club is 0-3 ATS. The over is 2-1 on the year.
In three tries Chicago has also laid a goose egg against the spread this season. They were favoured against the Packers to open the year and since then lost by a lot more than what the oddsmakers predicted they would. Of note, the over is 3-0, meaning we have a collective over record of 5-1 but these teams don’t score much. Interesting.
Denver Broncos
If there is one thing a team can tell itself after what happened in Miami last Sunday afternoon, it’s that things surely can’t get any worse. Not after a 70-20 buzz sawing. Maybe they’ll lose against the Bears, but not like that.
As such, one imagines it’s easier to wipe the proverbial slate clean after such a beatdown. The defence could certainly use a match against a club struggling to put points on the board (i.e. Chicago). It ranks dead last in total yards allowed per tilt (458). The group is also last in points allowed, but that’ll happen when 70 points are conceded in one-third of the games played. As we wrote in our Bears-Broncos conversation earlier this week, Russell Wilson’s numbers aren’t terrible. He’s eighth in yards passing and seventh in ESPN’s quarterback rating. Unlike last season, he isn’t the problem, at least not the main one.
Big names are on the injury list, as WR Jerry Jeudy, S Justin Simmons, and DT Mike Purcell on questionable.
Chicago Bears
Can the Bears look at what happened to the Broncos last week and argue “At least it wasn’t us”? The 41-10 drubbing at the hands of the Chiefs was a miserable display of football on both sides of the ball.
All those low-ranking defensive stats we quoted about Denver? Chicago is hardly better in most of them (second-last in points conceded, fourth-last in total yards per game). Conversely, the club is decidedly worse in most offensive statistical columns. They haven’t gained many yards per match (29th), don’t score many points (27th) and can’t throw the ball well (31st in yards through the air per game). Justin Fields looks eerily similar to the 2022 version – fun to see go off and run, less fun to watch passing – and the receiver corps of DJ Moore, Cole Kmet, Chase Claypool haven’t produced much quality. By the same token, they also don’t have a QB who’s very good at delivering the ball.
Things don’t get any easier, as the secondary is banged up. CBs Josh Blackwell and Jaylon Johnson are both questionable. So is S Eddie Jackson.
DEN
CHI