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NFL Preseason Betting – Broncos Begin SB Defense vs Bears

Zack Garrison

by Zack Garrison in News

Updated Jan 17, 2018 · 9:39 AM PST

Denver Broncos (-1, 35 o/u) at Chicago Bears

After the debacle that was the (non-) Hall of Fame game, the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos will finally get their preseason underway this Thursday when they travel to the Windy City to face the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field (8:00 PM ET).

The Broncos rode their league-best defense to a 12-4 regular season record last year, good enough to earn home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. That defense then came up huge in the Super Bowl, completely stymying Cam Newton and the 15-1 Carolina Panthers en route to a 24-10 win. Denver racked up seven sacks and forced four turnovers and won going away despite the offense only putting up 194 yards.

The team lost some pieces from that historically good defense in the offseason, including DT Malik Jackson and LB Danny Trevathan, but they re-signed Super Bowl MVP Von Miller to a longterm deal and kept their talented secondary intact.

One member of that secondary, Aqib Talib, had an eventual summer, shooting himself in the leg back in June. The former Patriot practiced for the first time this week, but won’t play on Thursday. The Broncos will need him to be at full speed come the regular season as their offense is poised to take a step back this year.

Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler didn’t exactly give the Broncos a dynamic attack last season, but now that Manning has retired and Osweiler is in Houston, the team will start either Mark Sanchez or Trevor Semien.

It’s safe to say that whoever wins the starting job will be leading a ground-heavy attack.

On the other side of the field lies a Bears team coming off a disappointing 6-10 season and a last-place finish in the NFC North. That disappointing year came despite QB Jay Cutler having one of his best statistical seasons of his 11-year career, posting a 64.4 completion percentage, and throwing 21 TDs to just 11 INTs. His 92.3 passer rating was his highest ever.

Cutler has a good chance to repeat those numbers this year if he continues to make smart decisions with the ball. Not only will he still have Alshon Jeffery as his top target, but Kevin White should finally be ready to start his NFL career. The Bears’ 2015 first-round pick missed all of last season with a leg injury. White and Jeffery will be joined by Eddie Royal in the slot and tight end Zach Miller, giving Cutler myriad options in the passing game.

We won’t see the offense in all its splendor this week, though, as the Bears are already dealing with a rash of injuries. Jeffery will sit with a hamstring injury; Royal and Miller are out with concussions, and center Hroniss Grasu tore his ACL on Saturday.

Betting preseason football is a bit of a crapshoot, but both of these teams were decent in the mean-nothing games last year, posting identical 3-1 records. It’s tempting to take the Bears as home dogs, but given that Sanchez and Semien are still battling for the starting position – while Cutler is locked in for Chicago – I expect a more motivated (and more talented) Denver team to come out on top.

Pick: Broncos -1.

(Photo Credit: Bradhoc [http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradhoc/8243338210/] CC BY 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.)

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