49ers vs. Bears line: Bet the under?

The 49ers and Bears square off in a few hours on Monday Night Football and the 49ers currently sit as 3 1/2 point favorites over the Bears. The line has bounced around quite a bit due to the injury situations. A lot of places would not set a line when there were question marks about both quarterbacks. Then it turned into 49ers by seven or eight when Cutler was declared out. It has dropped back down in light of the news that Alex Smith will not play.

Much like the 49ers last Monday Night Football game, I had a chance to put together a quick write-up for Covers.com on why I thought the 49ers would cover the spread tonight. At 3 1/2 I think the 49ers can pull this out and win you a few bucks, but I think the bigger number to consider is 34. That is the over/under, with oddsmakers looking at a defensive battle.

Jay Rood, sportsbook director at the MGM Mirage, briefly discussed the over/under and what he expected:

"The squares are betting the over because it's a low total. But it's a low total for a reason. It's like in baseball, people see a six up there and automatically take the over. But that number is set at six for a good reason."

We were discussing the game in the office, and particularly the betting numbers. There was some talk about how maybe this game goes against conventional wisdom of two great defenses, and ends up as a shootout. If the teams were completely healthy, I suppose I could see some potential for an unexpected shootout. As is, I have no real clue. Anything is possible, but this continues to strike me as a wildly unpredictable game.

Or maybe I'm just trying to sell myself that it won't simply be a massive train wreck. I don't really know.