The Bears are catching Arizona at a bad time as the Cardinals are coming off a bye week and come into this tilt rested.  Chicago has been off since their sloppy 16-14 win in Detroit on American Thanksgiving last Thursday.  Arizona is hoping the added rest will help get some injured players back in the lineup.  The Cards haven’t played since beating the Seahawks 23-13 in Seattle in Week 11.

Arizona is a 7.5-point favourite to win on the NFL odds, with a total of 44.0.

NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis

There’s not much history to go on between these teams.  This is their first meeting since Chicago downed the Cardinals 16-14 in Arizona in Sept. 2018.  That contest broke a four-game Over streak in the head-to-head series.  The Cardinals are back by about 83 per cent of Sports Interaction bettors for this one, while 71 per cent of action is taking the Under.

Arizona has been a perfect road team this year, winning and covering in all six games.  It’s worth noting, however, the Cardinals are 0-2 straight up following a bye week in head coach Kliff Kingsbury’s tenure with the team.  They’ve split the Over/Under equally on the road this season.

Last week’s win snapped a five-game losing streak for the Bears.  They haven’t been a reliable cover option either as they’re 4-7 against the spread overall and 2-3 ATS at Soldier Field.  The total has gone Under in four of Chicago’s five home games this year.

Arizona Cardinals

Arizona could get a huge boost to the lineup this week as quarterback Kyler Murray (ankle) and wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins (hamstring) could both return from injury after missing the last three games.  Murray was able to return to the practice field just before the bye week, while Hopkins returned to practice on Wednesday.  That makes it seem Murray’s return is more likely, although there’s been no official word on either player.

Although it seems like Murray will play, if he doesn’t, Colt McCoy will be under centre.  With Murray sidelined, McCoy went 2-1, with both wins coming on the road against divisional opponents.  One more impressive stat about this Arizona team: the Cardinals won all six of their road games by double-digit margins, becoming just the third NFL team to ever do that and first since 1968.

Chicago Bears

Rookie quarterback Justin Fields took a step forward in his recovery from cracked ribs, suffered in Week 11, by practicing on Wednesday.  Although head coach Matt Nagy has made it clear Fields will be the starter when he returns to the lineup, it looks like that won’t happen this week and Andy Dalton will get the start.  Dalton did help Chicago finish with a season-high 317 passing yards in last week’s win, but that just highlighted the team’s struggles running the ball.  The Bears averaged just 2.3 yards per carry against Detroit.  No. 1 running back David Montgomery had 46 rushing yards.  Montgomery is averaging 0.7 yards less per carry since returning from a knee sprain earlier in the season.

NFL Prediction: Who Will Win Cardinals vs. Bears?