New York Giants at Chicago Bears Betting Pick & Prediction

The Giants head to Soldier Field this Sunday to square off against the vaunted Chicago Bears’ defense. Unfortunately for the Bears, the same cannot be said about their offense. Chicago heads into the matchup with a 4-6 record, while the Giants come in with an abysmal 2-8 record. The Bears are coming off a 17-7 loss to the Rams, while the Giants are coming off a bye week and a loss to the Jets two weeks before.

Chicago will be facing an offense and a defense that rank in the bottom eight in the NFL in yards on both sides of the ball, while their own defense ranks eighth in the league in yards per game. The Bears’ defense is even better at home, giving up a half yard per attempt less at Soldier Field. The Giants come in with no shot at the playoffs in a season that has turned into an audition for 2020. The Bears are favored by 6.5 points, with an over/under of 40.5.

Playing For The Future

When I say the Giants are playing for the future, that’s not to say they aren’t trying to win games, but they need to see what they need to field a winning team in 2020 with zero chance of a playoff berth in 2019. The Giants offense turns the ball over more than any offense in the league, while their defense is ranked 27th of 32 teams in yards per game allowed.

The Giants need to find a piece to go with the numbers that second-year back Saquon Barkley can put up. Barkley is averaging 4.7 yards per carry across his two-year career. He also brought in 91 catches in 2018, leading the Giants receiving squad.

In 23 career starts, Barkley has 2,688 yards and 18 touchdowns. Quite a start for the young man, making him a great player to build around for the franchise.

The Future Under Center

Bears head coach Matt Nagy has received criticism for the way he’s used third-year quarterback Mitchell Trubisky this season. It seems like Nagy tries to force Trubisky to stay in the pocket under pressure, rather than letting him just figure it out and play his game. Or maybe the defense just moves too fast pre- and post-snap for Trubisky, and he simply cannot survive at this level. Nagy and Trubisky need to figure it out this season before the Bears decide to move on from both.

The Bears’ immaculate defense anchored by Khalil Mack has been let down greatly by the offense this season. They rank fourth in rushing yards per attempt, 10th in passing yards and eighth in total yards given up. If the other side of the ball could just play at league average, this could very easily have been a playoff-contending team. Mack has 5.5 sacks on the season, while defensive tackle Nick Williams leads the team with six.

Too Bad To Be Good

The Giants come into the game only having covered the spread three times this season, but two of those were on the road. The Bears are also 3-7 against the spread and have covered only twice at home. That being said, I don’t believe there is any way that the Giants can muster more than a few scores against Chicago’s defense at Soldier Field. And the Giants defense being what it is, the Bears find ways to score at home, on one side of the ball or the other. The Bears win and cover the 6.5. Get your bets in and enjoy your betting.