Windy City Gridiron
The Chicago Bears look to continue their winning ways in the Land of 1000 Lakes this week. We hope to return to our winning ways after a bumpy game last week. The props went just 1-2 after the Chicago Bears dropped 2 potential Jaxson Dart interceptions, and my confidence in Kyle Monangai did not pay off (and that’s why you always gamble responsibly).
Despite the 1-2 record, we still hold a 17-9 record on the season, and we look to bounce back this week against Minnesota. Here’s what we like this week.
The Chicago Bears lead the league in explosive plays, and the Minnesota Vikings’ biggest weakness is stopping the intermediate and deep passes. With Brian Flores loving to dial up the blitzes and the weakness of Minnesota’s defense, and the strengths of the Bears’ offense line up well. It feels like it lines up that Caleb should have a couple of deep throws connect.
Another thing the Minnesota Vikings don’t do really well is stop the run. They are giving up almost 130 yards per game on the ground, and the Chicago Bears’ running game has been rolling the last few games. The Bears ran for 171 against the Giants, 283 against the Bengals, 96 against the Ravens, 222 against the Saints, and 145 against the Commanders. That’s 183 rushing yards per game. Now they face another team that doesn’t stop the run well. If the Bears run for even, let’s say 140 yards as a team, is there any universe where Swift doesn’t go north of 60? I don’t think so either.
This prop goes back to the fact that the Vikings’ defense really struggles against stopping both intermediate and deep passes, and Rome Odunze is consistently the receiver that Caleb Williams looks for when he’s looking to push the ball down the field. It just feels like Oduzne will have a couple of catches in that 20 to 30 range and can go north of 56 yards on probably his 3rd catch of the game. I feel that as the passing game finds its footing, we will see Odunze consistently going north of 60 yards the rest of the season.
