NFL Preseason Betting – Can Bears Score a Point vs Patriots?

Chicago Bears at New England Patriots (-3.5, 42.5 o/u)

No one puts too much stock in preseason football, but it’s still nice to see your team score at least a few points. Unfortunately for Chicago Bears fans, that didn’t happen in Week 1 as the team was shutout 22-0 by the Broncos in the debut of new offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains. The team will have a chance to get on the board this Thursday (8:00 PM Eastern) when they take on the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Encouragement was hard to find after the loss to the Broncos. Chicago only gained 130 total yards and gave up seven sacks. They were pitiful on third down, going 3 of 14 in the game. Starting QB Jay Cutler played just one series, going 3 of 4 for 18 yards. Backup Brian Hoyer was 7 of 10 for 81 yards, but also threw an interception.

Loggains will be hoping the addition of Zach Miller to the first-team offense results in a little more success. The tight end has been out since July 31 with a concussion, but he returned to practice over the weekend and traveled with the team to New England.

The Patriots won their preseason opener 34-22 over the Saints. Tom Brady, who is suspended for the first four games of the regular season but is eligible to play in the preseason, didn’t take any snaps. There’s no word on whether he’ll play Thursday. Brady’s understudy, Jimmy Garoppolo, went a decent 11 for 18 for 186 yards in the first half, before giving way to third-stringer Jacoby Brissett (7 for 13 for 63 yards).

A couple injury concerns have surfaced for the Pats. Rookie receiver Malcolm Mitchell injured his left elbow in Thursday’s preseason opener. X-rays came back negative, but he was sporting a large sleeve/brace in practice and is expected to be out four weeks.

Oft-injured tight end Rob Gronkowski also suffered a minor injury in practice on Monday and was held out on Tuesday. It doesn’t appear to be anything serious, though; the team is simply taking a cautious approach with their top target.

One guy who might want to keep his head up tomorrow is fellow tight end Martellus Bennett. The former Bear was spitting venom to ESPN Magazine a couple weeks ago, stating of his time with the team: “I’d be open and [QB Jay Cutler would] throw into double coverage … I’ve been in the league for nine years now, and I’ve only been on two teams where the guys were a team: the New York Giants and now with the Patriots.”

Betting on the preseason is always tough, but no one on the Chicago offense showed much in Week 1. They may be highly motivated to rectify that in Week 2, but this offensive line is a mess – whether it’s the starters out there or the reserves. I see New England handing the Bears another thumping.

Pick: New England (-3.5). 

Photo credit: Mike Morbeck (flickr) CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.