Buccaneers vs. Bears Week 9 SNF Odds, Prediction and Picks: Bears Chase Third Straight Primetime Win
Two NFC teams with playoff expectations meet in the Sunday night game of Week 9 as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers visit Chicago, which is seemingly on primetime every week now. The Bears are -6.5 on the NFL odds with a total of 47.5.
Buccaneers vs. Bears Kickoff, Weather, TV, Streaming Info
Like all Sunday Night Football games, this kicks at 8:20 ET on NBC in the United States and is streaming on Peacock. In Canada, the game airs on TSN and can be streamed on DAZN through NFL Game Pass. RDS also carries NFL primetime coverage in French.
The USA hasn’t gotten hit yet by wintry weather and still pretty decent in the Windy City on Sunday night if chilly: A mostly clear sky. Low near 4C. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.
NFL Betting Odds, Point Spread, Trends
What division you play in makes such a huge difference in the NFL in terms of reaching the playoffs. Tampa Bay’s NFC South is garbage with nary a team holding a winning record. In two of the past four seasons, a team won the South with a losing record and a division title guarantees a home game.
At 3-5, the Bucs are a half-game in the loss column behind first-place Carolina. But Tampa Bay holds the early head-to-head tiebreaker (play again Week 12 in Tampa) and is surging, while the Panthers are slumping. I would favour the Bucs to win the South even though I believe they lose here, and they are slight +184 favourites.
Meanwhile, Chicago plays in the NFL’s toughest division in the NFC North where every club is at least two games over .500. Thus, the Bears in theory could win 10 games and miss the playoffs, while the Bucs win seven and host a Wild-Card Game. Just how things work. But Chicago is -700 for a playoff spot. Chicago has dominated this series overall but has dropped the past two. They last played in 2023.
NFL Player Odds and Props
This likely will be a very run-heavy game, so this will be easy in terms of player props: Take both No. 1 running backs for an anytime TD, although quite different prices. Chicago’s D’Andre Swift is -190 and Tampa Bay’s Bucky Irving is +105. Both scored at least once in Week 8.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
You may never see an NFL team win a game again like the Bucs did on Sunday, 16-0 home vs. Atlanta. It was raining in Tampa, but that doesn’t come close to explaining how the team won despite completing zero passes in three attempts. That’s due to an incredible 322 yards rushing. Both Bucky Irving and Kenny Gainwell had at least 25 carries for 140 yards. That’s a first for an NFL team.
Tampa Bay became the first team with zero completions in a game since 1974 and the second team in league history with zero completions and at least 300 rushing yards – it last happened in 1933. This actually goes back a bit to the week prior in Carolina when the Bucs won 43-13 despite only 75 yards passing from QB Baker Mayfield. Thus, this is the first team since the merger with at least 50 points scored and under 75 passing yards in a two-game span. There is some hope that top WR Emeka Egbuka can return from a two-game absence for this one. Two defensive starters are in doubt and that unit has largely been excellent in the past five after a slow start.
Chicago Bears
Short week for the Bears after one of their biggest road wins in years, 34-17 on Monday night at defending Super Bowl champion Seattle. The biggest story of that was new addition defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons, acquired from the Titans for a couple of first-round picks. High price but the four-time Pro Bowl dominated that Seahawks offensive line with six tackles, two for loss, and a sack. The Seahawks averaged a meager 3.0 yards per play with him on the field. Chicago is a heavy running team like Tampa Bay and leads the NFL with 18 rush scores. Those are the most by the franchise in the first eight games of a season since 1956. But QB Caleb Williams is playing at an MVP level himself.
The Bears are seeking to score at least 30 points with a minimum of 350 total yards in four straight games for only the second time in the Super Bowl Era. That historic 1985 championship team certainly didn’t do that. This is Chicago’s third straight primetime game, and it won the past two. No team has won three in a row as such since 2017. This might be a bit of a letdown game, however.
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