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As the resident football gambler of the WCG bunch, it’s up to me to bring in a betting angle here once in a while.
With more and more states legalizing sports betting, there’s bound to be a few more people looking to throw a little extraneous income at the Bears for fun, so let’s get you all educated.
Recently, the Lines posted CG Technology’s early betting lines for the first 16 NFL weeks. Obviously, with it being so early, there are pretty modest limits.
With that being said, it’s worth looking them over and at least getting a feel for how many games the Bears are favored in as of today.
Rudimentary spread reminder, the team with the minus (-) is the favorite, a plus (+) is an underdog. The number after the plus minus is what the score difference has to be for a bet to pay out (so Bears -3, Opponent +3 means if you bet Chicago they would need to win by 3 or more, while the opponent would need to win outright or lose by no more than 3 to over. If the game ended 3-0 it would be a PUSH and no one would win).
The total means total combined points for both teams. Totals are not available for all games yet.
If I reference a moneyline bet, that means betting that team to win straight up, moneylines are posted similarly to spreads with a +/- but the number after changes. The number reflects how much a $100 bet pays. For example, if a team is -100 on the moneyline, you must bet $100 to win $100, if they are +100, a $100 bet pays $100 (also known as even money). At -250, you must bet $250 to win $100 (Your original $250 plus $100 more) while +250 means a $100 bet would pay $250 (plus your original $100 back).
Now, onto the Bears spreads:
Week 1: vs. Green Bay - Bears -4, total 45.5, moneyline Chicago -190
Week 2: at Denver - Bears +1
Week 3: at Washington - Bears -2.5, total 42, moneyline Chicago -145
Week 4: vs. Minnesota - Bears -3.5
Week 5: at Oakland (London) - Bears -6
Week 7: vs. New Orleans - Bears -1
Week 8: vs LA Chargers - Bears -3
Week 9: at Philadelphia - Bears +3
Week 10: vs. Detroit - Bears -8
Week 11: at LA Rams - Bears +5.5, total 51, moneyline Chicago +210
Week 12: vs. New York Giants - Bears -10
Week 13: at Detroit - Bears -3.5, total 43, moneyline Chicago -175
Week 14: vs. Dallas - Bears -4, total 42, moneyline Chicago -190
Week 15: at Green Bay - Bears +3
Week 16: vs. Kansas City - Bears -1 total 51, moneyline Chicago -115
A few notes: I presume that Week 17 isn’t put out because that’s the week most likely to be influenced by teams sitting their starters.
The Bears are favored in 11 of their first 15 games, which isn’t surprising since they are coming off a 12-win season.
The four games they aren’t favored in are tough road match ups against Denver, Green Bay, LA Rams and Philadelphia.
Chicago are more than a touchdown favorite against the Giants and home against the Lions. It seems awful early to throw those types of spreads out there, but the general opinion is that those teams will be bad again. The Giants beat the Bears a year ago in OT.
As for the Bears’ Super Bowl odds, SportsBetting.ag has updated their odds, but the Bears haven’t changed from +1400. This is interesting only because many sportsbooks opened the Bears at +1200. Sportsbetting.ag has the Bears’ odds for the best record in the league at 14/1 (+1400). They are 50/1 (+5000) for the worst record in the league.
Anything jump out to you? Any games you’d be willing to put money down on here in May?