NFL betting picks: Best bets for Bears vs Packers
Alex Buck makes his Sunday Night Football picks and predictions for Bears vs Packers in NFL Week 2.
Find season-long NFL betting odds on the Betway sportsbook. You'll find all the latest spreads, parlays, totals, NFL prop bets, moneylines, and NFL futures. Or call it how you see it with our NFL live betting in-play. All your NFL betting needs are covered at our online sportsbook. Visit Betway’s NFL picks page for picks and predictions throughout the regular season.The Green Bay Packers face the Chicago Bears on Sunday night in the longest standing rivalry the NFL has to offer. These two teams do not like each other. Aaron Rodgers has largely dominated the series, which he was quick to remind the Bears fans of not so long ago by yelling "I STILL own you" at the Chicago crowd.
The Bears will travel to Lambeau Field looking to build upon a gritty win against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1, and silence Rodgers in the process.
Bears vs Packers Odds, Spread, Over/Under - NFL Betting Lines Week 2
Moneyline: Green Bay Packers -450, Chicago Bears +350
Spread: Packers -9.5
Total: Over/Under 42.5
The Packers slid to a woeful defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings on opening weekend, and will be trying to avoid going 0-2 both on the season and in the division to start the year.
Rodgers clearly missed his top target, and while the loss of Davante Adams was always going to be a factor, having Allen Lazard sidelined with an ankle injury certainly didn’t help the offense's case. Rodgers had to share the ball around, but looked to running back AJ Dillon on six occasions, more than any other player. Robert Tonyan, Aaron Jones and rookie Romeo Doubs were all targeted five times apiece, and Rodgers finished the day with 195 yards and one interception.
Dillon looks to be a key feature for the offense, with ten carries compared to Aaron Jones' five. Maybe he’s taking over as the primary back for the Packers, but a one-week sample size isn’t enough to draw conclusions on that. He was, however, the Packers' leader in all-purpose yardage, with 45 yards on the ground and another 46 through the air.
Defensively, Green Bay simply couldn’t contain Justin Jefferson. They lost him multiple times between zones, and looked generally slow out of the gate on opening weekend. Jefferson ended his day with a league-leading 184 yards and two touchdowns, embarrassing the Packers all afternoon.
Chicago faced a different kind of adversity, dealing with horrendous weather conditions and an almost waterlogged football field. The conditions made it difficult to gauge any kind of feel for the Bears passing game, or for Justin Fields' throwing improvements, with no single receiver managing more than one reception all afternoon. The only exception was running back David Montgomery, with three catches for 24 yards total.
Fields only threw the football 17 times, two of which went for touchdowns, and one for a poor interception over the middle of the field.
The Bears also gave up a few big plays in between zone coverages against the 49ers, getting caught out on play action plays.
Bears vs Packers observations
The question in this game is whether the Packers can force the Bears offense to rely on Justin Fields as a thrower. They did a fairly good job containing Dalvin Cook and the Minnesota run game on Sunday, not allowing Cook to break through into the second level. On 20 runs, he had 90 yards rushing for an average of 4.5 yards per carry, while Alex Mattison added another 36 yards, averaging 4.5.
If they can halt Justin Fields as a runner, and the running back duo of David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert, forcing Fields to pass, they should be able to walk away with a win. Outside of Darnell Mooney the Bears wide receiver group is largely unproven and doesn’t boast the quality to show up in a major way. Chicago don’t have a Jefferson-type threat to pick Green Bay apart with, unless it comes in the form of Darnell Mooney, and that’s a tall order even by his standards.
Chicago will see the pressure Aaron Rodgers faced against Minnesota and try to emulate it. Left tackle David Bakhtiari and guard Elgton Jenkins both sat out in Week 1 and neither are anywhere near guaranteed to return for Week 2. Rodgers was pressured all day by the Vikings, taking four sacks and a couple of nasty looking hits.
With the Packers' wide receiver situation being far from concrete, that pressure up front refusing Rodgers the time to pick out a receiver is going to be crucial.
Bears vs Packers predictions & Picks
Last year the two franchises combined for 75 points in the Lambeau Field match up. I love the over for this game for multiple reasons. It’s set at 42.5, which is remarkably low for an Aaron Rodgers game, maybe in part because of the display from the Packers offense in Week 1 and partly because of the lacking proven talent at receiver. I’m not sure Chicago will be able to apply the same level of pressure Minnesota did on Sunday, and Rodgers and LaFleur will adjust the game plan to include more short route options after the weekend's offensive line display.
The Pick: Packers/Bears Over 42.5
I will, however, be betting the Bears spread, with 9.5 being quite generous. While I believe the Packers will win the game and would be the moneyline there, it feels like a game the Bears can hang around in. Green Bay currently lacks the standout talent on offense who’s going to catapult them into a 21 point lead, therefore allowing Chicago the opportunity to keep it close.
The Pick: Packers Moneyline (-450)
Best Bears vs Packers Player Props Bets
Justin Fields
As for player props, Justin Fields to throw an interception feels like a good bet this week at -220. Lambeau Field is quite the test on any occasion, and Fields threw two picks there last time out in 2021. The Packers have a strong defense and while they might have totally lost Justin Jefferson on multiple occasions in Week 1, they should be able to force an interception out of Fields with the backing of a home crowd.
The Pick: Justin Fields Over 0.5 Interceptions (-220)
AJ Dillon
Elijah Mitchell was averaging almost seven yards per carry before he got hurt against the Bears defense, with Chicago doing pretty poor job of containing the run. When you pair that with a few favorable targets from Rodgers, who seems to trust AJ Dillon on a lot of checkdowns, I like him to have a pretty big night on Sunday Night Football.
Dillon saw a lot more opportunity than Aaron Jones in Week 1, and if that’s going to be a trend, this could be a really nice line in Week 2.
