Green Bay at Chicago
Time: NOON CT, FOX
Spread: CHI -5
Total: 47
Odds c/o 5dimes
The NFC North-leading Chicago Bears are 9-4 and will host the struggling 5-7 Green Bay Packers Sunday at Noon at Soldier Field as 5-point favorites. The over/under is set at 47 points according to NFL Oddsmakers at bookmaker 5dimes.
CHI
Green Bay won the season opener when these two teams met to kick off the 2018 season. Since that point, the Bears have become a formidable team in the NFL while Green Bay has surprisingly gone on a downward spiral to nearly the cellar of the division. Fittingly, the Bears have a chance to put an end to Green Bay’s postseason chances with a victory in this game.
Chicago has lost just once in seven games this season at home where it hosts this week’s game. Mitchell Trubisky is coming of age in his second NFL Season and his ability to rush the football gives the Bears a dual-threat quarterback that it lacked all throughout the Jay Cutler years.
Trubisky has thrown for 2,579 yards at a 64.4 percent clip, but he also ranks second on the team in rushing yards with 386 on 57 attempts. His 6.8 yards-per-carry lead all Bears rushers, and he is second only to Jordan Howard in touchdowns with three. Howard has rushed 197 times for 713 yards, but he has rushed just four times for 20-plus yards. Howard has, however, accounted for 39 first downs and five touchdowns, despite his paltry 3.6 yards-per-carry.
Trubisky’s top receiving target has been running back Tarik Cohen. Cohen ranks No. 3 on the team in rushing yards with 384, but he leads it in receiving yards with 679 yards and four touchdowns. Allen Robinson has added another 615 yards and four touchdowns, while Taylor Gabriel, Trey Burton, and Anthony Miller (one yard short) all have 400 yards or better on the season. The Bears offense ranks No. 3 in the NFL at 27.6 points per game and its defense has been sensational in limiting opponents to just 19 per contest.
GB
The Green Bay Packers won 34-20 over the Atlanta Falcons last week to snap a three-game skid that had seen it lose to the Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings, and Arizona Cardinals. It trails the first place Chicago Bears by an insurmountable 3.5 games, and this is possibly a rare season the Packers will miss out on the postseason.
?
Aaron Rodgers has had something of a down season, but he still has 3,504 yards and 21 touchdowns to his one interception. Problematic has been his 35 sacks for a total loss of 239 yards. He has rushed 32 times for 168 yards, but he has not scored any rushing TDs this season. Aaron Jones leads the backfield with 642 yards and seven rushing TDs, but Green Bay has just two other rushing TDs outside of Jones. Jamaal Williams has struggled with just 3.6 yards-per-carry as the No. 2 back.
Rodgers has aired it out mostly to Davante Adams, who has 1,115 yards on the season and 11-reception TDs. Jimmy Graham has added another 536 yards and two TDs, while Marquez Valdes-Scantling has added 432 yards and a pair of TDs. The Packers have 21 receiving TDs, but its lack of rush production has hurt and made the offense a little stale. Green Bay manages just 105.7 rushing yards per game and its offense generates just 23.4 points per game while it surrenders 23.9 on the defensive end.
Overall, it is just a mediocre Packers team from what we have come to expect from Rodgers and company in the past. Will its postseason chances be squashed by its division rival? Oddsmakers project as much, but a 5-point spread is hardly a chasm that Rodgers has never faced in his illustrious NFL career.
