NFL Betting Action from Soldier Field – Giants vs. Bears

New York Giants vs. Chicago Bears 8:00 ET

A pair of teams looking to improve upon their efforts from a week ago will hook up at Soldier Field in a Saturday night NFL betting affair when the New York Giants (1-0 SU, 1-0 ATS) and Chicago Bears (0-1 SU, 0-1 ATS) collide. The Giants were fortunate to get passed the Carolina Panthers by a 24-17 final score last Monday night, while the Bears were dominated in its 27-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

Chicago currently sits as two-point home favorites with the game ‘total’ set at 34.5 per the current BetOnline.com NFL betting lines.

The Giants led for most of its game with the Panthers last week until a wild and crazy 4th quarter. We’ll get to that later, but for now, let’s talk Manning. You know… the 97 million dollar quarterback. He played a total of two series and completed 2-of-3 passes for 31 yards. He was looking to form a rhythm with someone from his WR corps, but nothing materialized. Instead, the Giants ground game did most of the damage with RBs Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw leading the way in the 1st quarter. Backup QB David Carr had the prettiest stat line of all Giants QBs completing 6-of-10 passes for 74 yards, which included a screen pass that went for 36 yards to HB Danny Ware for a touchdown. NY’s defense tallied four sacks and forced five turnovers in the game; the last being the game decider. The Meadowlands received a jolt when Rookie DE Tommie Hill got his paws on a deflected pass and rumbled into the end zone from 18-yards out on the game’s final play much to the chagrin of Carolina bettors

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Red flags and alarms went off in the Windy City after Bears fans and betting backers witnessed Jay Cutler’s debut at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The prized free agent acquisition managed to complete just 5-of 10 passes for 64 yards. Oh yeah, he also had a much talked about interception that’s been highly bantered about throughout Chicago Sports talk radio waves all week. Cutler remained calm, saying, "It’s too early to start to panic. It’s preseason. I feel fine about it." That said; the Urlacher/Cutler and Hester/Cutler pissing matches that have already occurred better not be a preview of what’s to come in Cutler time in Chicago. On a better note, backup QB Caleb Hanie sparkled completing 8-of-11 passes for 87 yards and a score. He did well for the Bears last preseason, and has picked right back up where he left off. 3rd string QB Brett Basanez, not so much. All in all, it was a very sloppy effort.

Besides HC Tom Coughlin being pissed about this far from ideal road trip to the Windy City for a Saturday night game with the Bears after just defeating the Carolina Panthers on Monday night, he says his team is all about the business of going out and playing football. Passing the ball is one of the top objectives on his list with a WR yet to step up and be that go to guy. However, rookie WR Ramses Barden has been getting a lot of press of late and could be a primary target for Manning. The two might just go off on the Bears hobbled secondary much like Buffalo did last week (252 yards). With HC Lovie Smith and the Bears hearing all kinds of criticism this past week, you can expect them to bring their “A” game when they line-up against the Giants on Saturday night. Those that didn’t play last week will this time around as Lovie has given the thumbs up for them to suit up. With both clubs looking to get their offenses going, look for the ‘over’ to improve to 2-0 ATS for both clubs in the ’09 preseason.

Rose’s Recommendation: 3* New York/Chicago Over 34.5

(Rating Scale: 1* – 5*)