Washington Redskins vs. Chicago Bears
Betting Line: Bears -3 o/u 40
By
John J. Raspanti
The Skins come to Chicago in search of a defense that can stop somebody. The Bears are searching for ways to keep there opponents from killing there quarterback. The Redskins (3-3) are led by veteran Donavan McNabb. The 33-year-old McNabb has completed 58 percent of his passes, with five touchdowns and five interceptions. With running back Clinton Portis down with a groin injury, second year man Ryan Torain has taken over the reins. Torain has rushed for 256 yards and scored three times. Wide receiver Santana Moss has grabbed 37 balls for 485 yards. Chris Cooley has caught 28 passes and Anthony Armstrong 12. Armstrong has emerged the Skins main deep threat. The Redskins defense is allowing an NFL-worst 432 yards a Game. Last week the Indianapolis Colts, certainly not known for their running Game picked up a 170 yards on the ground. Safety Leroy LAndry, linebacker London Fletcher, and outside linebacker Brian Okakpo have all played well.
The Bears look to come out with some fire on Sunday. They were flat and listless in last weeks disappointing loss to the Seahawks. Quarterback Jay Cutler is in need of some better protection having been sacked 23 times. Cutler has still managed to hit on 60 percent of his passes and six touchdowns. Running back Matt Forte will certainly get some more touches this week. As stated, the Redskin run defense is last in the league. Cutler will target Johnny Knox if he has time, and Greg Olsen. Knox is averaging 21 yards a catch. Tight end Olsen hasn’t caught a pass in the last two Games. Expect this to be remedied pretty quickly on Sunday. Chicago’s Devin Hester has reGAined his mojo on punt returns. Hester already has returned two for touchdowns. Defensively the Bears are ranked eighth in the league. Middle linebacker Brian Urlacher has been strong and steady all year. All Pro outside linebacker LANCe Briggs didn’t play last week and is listed as questionable this week. Julius Peppers has been dominating at times this season but it’s Isreal Idonije who leads the team with three sacks.
Both of these teams are in the bottom 3rd of the NFL in points scored at 19 points per Game on average. At the same time, they are both in the top half in points allowed with the Bears at number 3 with 16 points per Game and the Skins at 14 with 20 points per Game. With that in mind, we are going to lean towards the under in this Game. The total is 40 and we see a 20-10 type of a Game as the Bears inability to protect Cutler keeps him from exploiting the Redskins 31st ranked secondary.
Redskins/Bears Under 40