TOM SELWYN (@tom_selwyn) returns with his expert opinion Monday night’s NFL contest from Chicago.
Philadelphia Eagles @ Chicago Bears | Tuesday 01.30 | Sky Sports 1
A lot of this week’s MNF game will understandably be focussed on Philadelphia’s rookie QB (and second overall pick) Carson Wentz, but instead I’ll be looking to focus on the battle between the Bears offense and the Eagles defence.
It’s a match-up I think Philadelphia will generally get the better of and so my pick this week is for Chicago to score Under 22.5 Points on Monday night.
Philadelphia’s defence started the season off well, limiting the Browns to just 10 points in their first game. This is of course a Cleveland offense that is very much a work in progress at this time, but early signs are good for this Eagles D under their new coordinator Jim Schwartz.
As well as only allowing 10 points, they picked up three sacks, one INT and two forced fumbles – a decent return for any defence.
On the other side of the ball, Chicago’s offense struggled last week against a very good Texans defence, scoring just 14 points.
If anything, Chicago’s offense could be lesser than last year’s iteration where they only averaged 20.9 points a game – TE Martellus Bennett is now in New England, RB Matt Forte is now a New York Jet and WR Kevin White is still getting up to speed, so nearly everything goes through star WR Alshon Jeffrey and if you can stop him, you generally stop Chicago.
This is harder said than done of course and Jeffrey still racked up 105 yards (nearly half of QB Jay Cutler’s passing total) in a losing effort against Houston.
However, Jim Schwartz is a former Head Coach so he’s been in the league some time and he’ll have a plan for his charges to try and contain Jeffrey.
If they are able to have at least moderate success in this area then we should see a low score from the Bears.
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Philadelphia Eagles @ Chicago Bears – Chicago Bears to score Under 22.5 Points (1/1 Bet365)
