Saturday NFL Preseason Predictions
The third week of the NFL preseason is often a dress rehearsal for the regular season. With a handful of games on Saturday, here are three plays we like for today’s NFL exhibition slate.
265 Kansas City Chiefs at 266 Chicago Bears, 1:00 p.m. ET
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Chiefs are 3.5-point favorites to beat the Bears. The total, meanwhile, sits at 44.5 points. As of this writing, 58% of the public betting tickets are on the Chiefs to cover the point spread.
I think the Bears will wind up being one of the more improved teams in the NFL this season. Matt Nagy should have a positive impact on Mitch Trubisky ala Sean McVay and Jared Goff a year ago. Chicago also has some good talent on defense and it kept coordinator Vic Fangio, which was a prudent move. I like the Bears catching 3.5 points at home against a Chiefs team that has some upside but is also in a transition year.
Prediction: Chicago Bears +3.5
271 San Francisco 49ers at 272 Indianapolis Colts, 4:30 p.m. ET
San Francisco is the chic playoff pick for a lot of NFL observers and while the Niners might be another year away from making the postseason, I do think they’ll display plenty of fireworks under Kyle Shanahan. Andrew Luck and Co. did not look sharp on Monday night and it’ll be a while for the quarterback to shake off the rust. I think this is a good spot to back the 49ers in a pick’em game at most books.
Prediction: San Francisco 49ers PK
273 Atlanta Falcons at 274 Jacksonville Jaguars, 7:00 p.m. ET
According to oddsmakers, the Jaguars opened as a 1-point home favorite to beat the Falcons but are now -4 at most books. The total, meanwhile, sits at 39 points, down a full field goal from the opening number of 42.
The Falcons looked sharp last week when the starters were on the field but once the backups came in the Chiefs took the game over. I expect the same tonight. Atlanta has played flat in the second half of each of its preseason tilts and even though 4 is a relatively high number for an exhibition tilt, I like Jacksonville to cover as a home favorite.
Prediction: Jacksonville Jaguars -4