NFL Betting – Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Chicago Bears
After a rough debut with his new team Tom Brady is heating up. Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers go for their fourth straight win when they visit the Chicago Bears in Week 5 Thursday Night Football. Brady had his best game in a Bucs uniform throwing five touchdown passes in a comeback win over the Chargers last week. The Bears have a hard time scoring five touchdowns in a month. Now that Nick Foles has taken over in Chicago we get a matchup from one of the best Super Bowls ever. Foles earned MVP when his Eagles beat Brady’s Patriots three seasons ago. The Bucs are a 3.5-point favorite to extend their winning streak. Bookmaker is offering a generous welcome bonus ($1000 max bonus)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Chicago Bears
Date and Time: Thursday, October 8, 2020, 8:20 p.m. ET
Location: Soldier Field, Chicago, IL
Opening NFL Odds: Tampa Bay -3, O/U 45.5
Buccaneers at Bears TV Coverage: FOX/NFL Network
Odds Analysis
Last week’s results have a lot of bettors scrambling. Tampa’s stirring comeback to beat the Chargers was vintage Brady, which is bad news for the Bears, who looked pathetic again on offense. The line opened at Tampa -3 and was bet up to -3.5. There will have to be heavy action to move that off the key number. Despite their 38-31 win last week, the Bucs failed to cover the 7.5-point line falling to 2-2 ATS. The Bears lost 19-11 to the Colts, their first of the season. They got 3.5-points on the closing line and fell to 2-2 ATS. The Bears have scored more than 20 points just three times in their last 12 home games cashing the UNDER 10 times. The total was wagered down to its current 44.5 after opening a full point higher.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
What happened last week was exactly why the Bucs signed Brady in the offseason. Having his best game with his new club, Brady directed a comeback from down 24-7 by completing 30 of 46 passes for 369 yards and five touchdowns. Over the last two games he’s thrown for 666 yards with eight touchdowns and one interception. Giving the old man time to throw was a point of emphasis during the offseason and the plan is coming to fruition. Brady was dropped three times in the opener, which is one more than he’s been sacked the last three games.
Injuries are big news around the league this season and the Bucs are dealing with their share, especially on offense. O.J. Howard is done for the season with an Achilles injury while Chris Godwin, Justin Watson and LeSean McCoy won’t play on Thursday. Mike Evans and Scottie Miller also had ailments that kept them out of practice and Leonard Fournette is questionable after missing the Week 4 contest. That leaves Ronald Jones and Rob Gronkowski available to pick up the slack.
The Bucs probably won’t need as much offense facing the Bears’ pop-gun attack. And defensively they’ve looked good. A couple of pick-sixes by Brady have skewed the numbers, but the Bucs own a top-5 unit allowing only 312 yards per game. They give up 23 points a game to place eighth. It doesn’t matter who Brady lines up with he always makes the right plays finding an instant connection.
Chicago Bears
The Bears haven’t had a decent quarterback since Jim McMahon led them to a Super Bowl win in the 1980s. And it doesn’t look as though Nick Foles has the magic to turn the offense around. The Bears are kicking themselves for drafting Mitchell Trubisky ahead of Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson a few years ago. I doubt either one would be as good in a Bears uniform as they are now. Somehow the Bears are 3-1 and just a game behind the Packers in the NFC North, so they must be doing something right since winning is all that matters.
If it wasn’t for the fourth quarter in the opener when Trubisky threw three touchdowns in a 27-23 comeback win over the Lions or the fourth quarter a few weeks ago when Foles tossed three TDs to overcome the Falcons, who knows where the Bears would be. They’d probably be winless since they’ve scored more points in the final period than the first three quarters combined. They are also without one of their top playmakers with Tarik Cohen lost for the season.
If they could run the football it might take some pressure of Foles. However, they can’t do that. They ran for 28 yards on 16 carries against Indy with no attempt longer than six yards. It helps to have a good defense, which the Bears do once again. They aren’t the Monsters of the Midway good, but they are a top-10 crew in terms of total yards, passing yards and points against.
Bet Buccaneers at Bears at BookMaker.eu
I look at the Bears and wonder ‘how the heck have they won three games.’ In all fairness the Colts are a good defensive team, the best in the NFL in yards and points against, but still they should be able to run the ball better and put up a few more points. I’m not sure if things are going to change drastically on a short week and facing the GOAT is a problem. Taking the visitors minus the points is the smart play.
NFL Score Prediction: Buccaneers 26, Bears 20
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- Phil Simon, Gambling911.com
