Bears vs. Vikings Free Pick
Minnesota (TheSpread) – In what could turn out to be one of the more interesting Monday Night Football games of the year, the Minnesota Vikings will host the Chicago Bears at TCF Bank Stadium at 8:30PM ET tonight. Continue reading for odds, picks and more on this ESPN Monday Night Football showdown.
According to current Week 15 NFL odds and oddsmakers from online sports book Sportsbook.com, the Bears are 7-point favorites over the Vikings on Monday Night Football. Those odds may change, however, because Brett Favre has been upgraded from out to questionable with a shoulder injury. If he plays, the line will certainly drop – maybe even as low as 3 or 4 points.
The over/under total is also interesting because it’s 33.5, which is the lowest total of the season. The low number is due to the possibility that Minnesota could get as much as six inches of snow tonight and the field isn’t heated like other outdoor NFL stadiums because, well, it’s not a NFL stadium. It’s a college football stadium.
The Bears enter this game with a 9-4 record and are 6-6-1 against the spread according to current NFL trends. They’re 4-1 on the road this season and have covered in three of those five games.
The Vikings are 5-8 overall this year after losing to the Giants last Monday night at Ford Field. They’re 4-9 against the spread, which includes a 3-4 mark at home although they’re not really playing at home tonight.
Monday Night Football Free Pick:
This is easily one of the hardest games to predict of the year. The Vikings are expected to start rookie Joe Webb, which would be a major advantage for the Bears. First and foremost, this would be his first start of his career and seeing as how he’s an athletic QB whose talents are running, he could have an incredibly hard time running on the bad surface tonight. He’s also facing a Chicago defense that kept Michael Vick in check, but the Bears’ defense hasn’t played well in two weeks so that complicates things. If Favre starts, the line will move and obviously the dynamics of the game change. That said, he can’t be healthy – even if he does muster enough grit to start. In that case, if the line drops, why not take the Bears at the better price (assuming the odds drop to 3 or 4)? That said, we think the best value tonight is in the total. Running on that track will be incredibly difficult and even though the over/under is low at 33.5, both teams would still need to combine for four touchdowns and two field goals for it to go over. The under is 4-1 in the Bears’ last five road games and 4-0 in the Vikings’ last four games against the NFC. Our pick is the under tonight.
2010 ESPN MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL FREE PICK: BEARS/VIKINGS UNDER 33.5
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