Betting the Bears: Andy Dalton vs. Kirk Cousins

If you’re like me, the gambling season is winding down.

I don’t bet much on sports other than football. Well a little bit of racing. And some baseball. And March Madness.

Ok, ok, so sports betting doesn’t stop, but football is my main betting jam so I will be sad when it’s gone, but it’s also probably for the better because this year has been brutal to me.

Last week I said I was going to finish strong and then it was a battle of my head and my gut and I went with my head. Lo-and-behold that the gut won and the Bears covered.

Over in the pick ‘ems, Macksmith is the leader with 170 and if he manages to have a rough week there’s realistically only two or three others who could catch him. I was the high-scorer last week with 13 points.

The Bears go to Minneapolis to finish this season off with Andy Dalton against Kirk Cousins and the Vikings. It isn’t a very sexy match up, with two teams that could be looking for coaches and/or GMs come Monday, but it should be an interesting game nonetheless.

Or at least, in the sense that it’s our team we’re watching and we won’t get to see them for another nine months.

According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the Vikings are 5.5-point favorites, up from 2.5 opening line when the QB situation for Minnesota was unsettled.

Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings (-5.5, O/U 44)

The Bears are 3-5 against the spread on the road this year, but have covered against the lesser of their away opponents like Seattle and Pittsburgh.

Are the Bears better than the Vikings, at least in the sense that they’re less than? No I don’t think so, I think the teams are pretty even, really, they have some glaring holes but they have some solid strengths too.

Three of the last four final week meetings between these teams was covered by the underdog team, including when the Bears were 13.5 point under dogs at the end of 2017 and covered at 13 points.

I don’t necessarily believe in Andy Dalton because he’s 1-3 against the spread in games he started and finished this season.

But again, it’s kind of my gut and my head.

This just kind of feels like a game that the Bears are going to show up for. They’ve been playing hard with nothing to play for for better part of three games and even if it doesn’t change anything, maybe they will try to let Nagy go on a three-game win streak.

I don’t know. I’m going with it. Screw it, let’s be optimistic one more time.

I’ll take the under as well, neither one of these teams is very good and I don’t think either side really has a blow out in them.

My picks: Bears +5.5, under 44

My record: 7-9 ATS, 10-21 overall