Chicago Bears at New England Patriots Betting Preview
The Chicago Bears have some extra rest going for them after not playing since last Thursday’s 12-7 loss to Washington – and that’s about it. 2-4 Chicago is 0-3 on the road, has one of the worst offenses in the NFL yet again, and face a New England Patriots team that has looked sharp in consecutive wins.
These are the type of games that Bill Belichick loves when he gets to game plan against a young QB like Justin Fields to make him see ghosts’ like the Jets’ Sam Darnold did back in 2019. The Patriots are -8.5 favorites, and even that number seems low.
Primetime Bears Again
When we last saw Chicago, they were losing 12-7 at home to the Commanders. Washington threw for just 86 yards, and the Bears had 237 yards on the ground, but three trips inside the red zone that resulted in zero points are not going to win a lot of games for Chicago.
Fields has just 63 completions on the season, the fewest of any QB that has started all of his team’s games. He’s also been sacked 23 times which is one less than league-high Joe Burrow – but on 155 fewer attempts. Some of that is on Fields, some of it on his receivers not getting open, and a lot of it on a bad offensive line, but either way, Belichick is licking his chops.
Chicago’s defense played well enough to win last week, but their job gets a bit tougher on Monday night, not knowing if Bailey Zappe or Mac Jones is going to start at QB for New England.
Does the QB Matter?
The 3-3 Patriots have definitely looked reinvigorated with Zappe in at QB the last two games. The rookie out of Western Kentucky’s first NFL start was a 29-0 win over Detroit, and he followed that up by going 24/34 for 309 yards and two TDs in last Sunday’s 38-15 win in Cleveland.
The old adage is that you can’t lose a job to injury, and with Jones cleared (ankle), he’ll likely be back under center on Monday night. RB Damien Harris (hamstring) is also expected back, which may be a bigger story.
With Harris back, Rhamondre Stevenson running for two TDs last week, and the Bears having the second-worst rush defense in the league (163.0), Jones (or Zappe’s) job may just be to hand the ball off.
Bears at Patriots Pick and Prediction
The Bears have had a mini bye playing last Thursday to Monday night, but that’s likely still not enough time to prepare for what Belichick and the Patriots’ defense have dialed up. New England was able to shut out Jared Goff and the Lions two weeks ago, and this matchup almost isn’t fair to Fields.
Chicago can run the football (170.7 ypg) but so could Cleveland as the #1 rushing team in the NFL, and they were held to 70 yards on the ground last week against New England. To be honest, it would be a shocker if the Bears even score in this game.
Pick: Patriots -8.5
