Vegas favors Bears over Packers for the first time since 2008

Over the past few years, the Chicago Bears have been the butt of many jokes of our neighbors to the north. This isn’t all that surprising, though. After all, the Bears haven’t been all that successful as of late. The Green Bay Packers, on the other hand, have been.

Well, guess who’s laughing now?

Without their mighty savior, Aaron Rodgers, the Packers look more vulnerable than they’ve ever been over the past few years. With Brett Hundley under center, they have lost their past three games.

It seems like Vegas expects that losing streak to continue.

According to Sportsline, the Bears are the 5.5-point favorites to pick up the win at Soldier Field on Sunday. As pointed out by Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, this marks the first time since 2008 that they have been favored to beat the Packers.

Some of the brightest minds in betting typically agree with the odds for this week’s matchup.

Anthony Riccobono of the International Business Times believes that not having Rodgers at quarterback has doomed Green Bay, and it will continue to do so this week.

The value of Aaron Rodgers becomes more evident with each game that the Packers are forced to start another quarterback. Brett Hundley has been bad under center for Green Bay, and Mike McCarthy’s conservative play calling hasn’t helped matters. If the Bears have any success on offense with their two-headed monster at running back, Green Bay won’t be able to get back into the game.

Boris “Bubs” Malloy from My Top Sportsbooks foresees a low-scoring game ending in a Bears victory.

Unless Hundley shows marked improvement in Week 9, the Bears should be favored for the first time this year when they come back from their bye. Given that the Green Bay defense is 21st in Defensive DVOA against the run, Chicago should be able to find enough offense to come out on top in a low-scoring affair.

Finally, Mark Taylor of Pinnacle noted in an article how much the odds have shifted with Rodgers out.

Sunday’s game is an intriguing encounter, not least from a betting point of view when compared to the meeting between the sides earlier in the year.

The line has moved from -7 in favour of earlier host side, Green Bay, to -5 for the Bears and the points total has fallen from 46 to around 38. It’s difficult to disagree with these sentiments.

A comparison of the two sides under their new quarterbacks favours the home field Bears by at least a touchdown and pitches the points total as one of the lower quotes this season in the region of 37.

If you’re a betting man - or woman - then it seems like this week would be a great time to put down some cash on the Monsters of the Midway.