NFL Week 12 Betting – Pack Look to Pull Even All-Time With Rival Bears

Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers (-9, 46.5 o/u)

The Green Bay Packers (7-3, 4-1 Home) will have a chance to tie the all-time series against their long-time division rivals, the Chicago Bears (4-6, 3-2 Away), when they meet for the first time on a Thanksgiving Night at Lambeau Field (8:30 PM Eastern Time).

Not only will a Packers win aid them in their quest for a fifth straight NFC North crown, but it will pull them even with the Bears in their long running series for the first time since 1933. (The Bears currently lead 93-92-6).

After a three-game slide, the Packers got back to their winning ways last week by taking down the Minnesota Vikings 30-13. Green Bay was outgained slightly in total yardage by the Vikings offense 342-320; but they didn’t turn the ball over and found ways to stay balanced.

QB Aaron Rodgers completed 16 of his 34 passes for 212 yards, and two touchdowns and running back Eddie Lacy recorded 100 rushing yards for the first time this season.

“Maybe we’ll get you guys off our back for a couple days,” Rodgers said in the post-game press conference. “We’ve been taking it on the chin, rightfully so, the last three weeks after a couple real poor performances. This was an important week for us. We really stuck together.”

The Packers defense was particularly good, holding RB Adrian Peterson to 45 rushing yards in 13 carries on Sunday.

“Sometimes you have to look in the mirror, especially with the losses we’d had,” Packers linebacker Clay Matthews told the Associated Press.

The Chicago Bears, on the contrary, lost a great chance to get back to the postseason conversation, losing at home 17-15 to the Denver Broncos and their backup QB Brock Osweiler.

Head coach John Fox received plenty of criticism from the media after he decided to try for a first down on fourth-and-4 in the red zone rather than kicking a field goal midway through the fourth quarter. The Bears would get a touchdown late and end up losing by just two points.

“At that point in the game’’ Fox told the Chicago Tribune, “we felt that was going to be maybe our last opportunity.’’

“You’re going against a pretty stingy defense,’’ he added. “They scored 17 points, we scored 15. That’s not a real high-scoring game in our business. We knew it would be tough sledding and so we needed to take advantage of getting points when we had the opportunity.’’

The Bears will need a bigger effort than just 15 points when facing the Packers on Thanksgiving Night; Green Bay has averaged 39.5 points per game in their last four meetings against Chicago, including a 50-burger last season, the last time the Bears visited Lambeau Field. However, they should be aided by the return of WR Alshon Jeffrey and RB Matt Forte, both whom are expected to return this week.

The Packers are 10-1 SU in its last 11 games when playing Chicago, and 5-2 ATS in their last seven Thursday games.

The Bears are 0-4 ATS in their last four Thursday games, and QB Jay Cutler is just 1-12 in his career against Green Bay.

Pick: Packers (-9).

(Photo Credit: Mike Morbeck (originally posted to Flickr as Jay Cutler) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)