All things considered, things had been going fairly well for the Chicago Bears following their opening game loss to the Green Bay Packers. They’d won three straight games but that was before they were embarrassed by the Oakland Raiders in London. The Raiders put together one of their best performances of the season in the win which has become a serious embarrassment to the Bears’ top rated defense.
They were off last week and are in a nasty mood as they welcome the New Orleans Saints to Soldier Field. The defense, in particular, is anxious for a measure of redemption. Their defense is still elite level despite the Raiders debacle. They’re #6 in total defense, #11 in passing defense and #5 in rushing defense. They’ve got the #3 scoring defense in football allowing just 13.8 PPG. Throw out the fiasco of a game in London and they’re allowing 11.25 PPG which is #2 in the league behind New England.
The game sets up even better with New Orleans yet to loss with backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater under center. The Saints are 4-0 SU/ATS since losing Drew Brees but will be without running back Alvin Kamara and tight end Jared Cook for this game. The Bears could get starting quarterback Mitchell Trubisky back here–he’s listed as ‘questionable’ but the team has been mum about his actual condition. Even if he’s not available, Chase Daniel has been fine in his fill in role. The Bears’ offense could stand to score some more points but there hasn’t been any significant dropoff from Trubisky to Daniel.
The Bears have been a very tough home team at Soldier Field going 17-6-1 ATS in their last 24 home games. They’ve also covered 11 of their last 16 overall. The Saints have been a solid ATS performer in recent years but obviously much of that was with Brees at quarterback. No disrespect to Bridgewater who is a fine quarterback and particularly by backup standards but this is a perfect situational setup for Chicago.
