NFL Primetime Side
(NFL) Minnesota vs. Chicago,
Point Spread: 3.50 | -109.00 Chicago (Home)
Result: Loss
ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Chicago +3.5 over Minnesota, Monday at 8:20 PM ET - This line opened with the Bears favored by -1.5 and has swung a full 4 points to Minnesota -3.5. Too much in our opinion and the Vikings don’t justify laying more than 3 in this game. Sure the Vikes are 2-0 since their bye week beating Green Bay and Detroit, but they were +6 @ GB and just -3 at home vs Detroit. Now they are laying more than that @ Chicago? Bad line. Minnesota was able to run the ball at will vs those 2 defenses which rank 23rd and 24th in the NFL in YPC allowed. Now they face a top 10 rush defense with Chicago allowing just 4.1 YPC. Last week the Bears faced a Tennessee offense that ranks 6th in the NFL in rushing and held them to just 92 yards on the ground on 3.0 YPC. Derrick Henry had just 68 yards on 21 attempts. The Bears lost that game but actually outplayed the Titans on the road with a +11 first down edge and +147 total yardage edge. If Chicago can slow down Dalvin Cook that places the pressure on QB Cousins to win the game. We know how that goes as he is known for not stepping up in big moments and is 0-9 SU on Monday night football. The Vikings offense has looked good but they’ve played mainly average to poor defenses. In fact, 7 of their 8 opponents rank 19th or lower in YPP defense this season. The one top 10 defense they played this year was Indy and the Vikings scored only 11 points in that game. Chicago will be the best defense they’ve faced since that game which was back on September 20th. The Bears offense looked much better last week putting up 375 yards on Tennessee. Tonight they face a Minnesota defense that ranks a few spots below Tennessee when it comes to YPP defense (25th overall) and we expect Chicago to do enough on offense to have a great shot to win this game outright. The Bears are 4-0 SU vs the Vikings since Matt Nagy took over as HC and we give them a great shot at making that 5-0 tonight. If not, we expect a very close game and getting over a FG at home with the much better defense is our pick. Take the Bears.