Welcome to Week 16 of the NFL season! The San Francisco 49ers are at home to face the Chicago Bears in what will be the final game at Levi’s Stadium this season. The 49ers are a four-point underdog against their old 80s rival.
The 2018 NFL season is officially in full swing, which means regular season betting is back. I’m back for another year of picks in the Westgate SuperContest. SB Nation’s partners over at Odds Shark are sponsoring my entry again. The contest requires selecting 5 games each week and picking them against the spread. I went 4-1 in Week 15, improving to 36-35-4 for the season. Overall for last week, I finished 8-8.
I’m out of the running for much of anything with the SuperContest, so I am going to include the 49ers game in my picks the rest of the way. This is my fifth week since changing to that strategy and I am 3-1 to date. This week, I’m going to take the points with the 49ers for the third straight week. I took the points against Tampa Bay and lost, laid the points with Seattle in Week 13 and won, and then laid the points each of the past two weeks
This week, they face a Bears team that has a dominant defense, but there are questions heading into this game. They finished the season 7-1 at home, but are just 3-3 on the road — including a loss to the New York Giants. Mitchell Trubisky is improving but inconsistent in his second season. And most importantly, they’re coming off a division-clinching win over their long-time rivals, the Green Bay Packers. A sizable majority of betting has been on Chicago, but the line moved down from as high as five. This suggests some professional betting on the 49ers.
Here are my five SuperContest picks for Week 16:
COWBOYS (-7.5) over Buccaneers
Texans (+2.5) over EAGLES
49ERS (+4) over Bears
SAINTS (-6 over Steelers
RAIDERS (+2.5) over Broncos
Here are all my picks for Week 16 (home team in caps):
TITANS vs. Washington (+9.5): Washington
CHARGERS vs. Ravens (+4.5): Ravens
COWBOYS vs. Buccaneers (+7.5): Cowboys
PATRIOTS vs. Bills (+13): Patriots
PANTHERS vs. Falcons (-3.5): Panthers
DOLPHINS vs. Jaguars (+4): Dolphins
COLTS vs. Giants (+9.5): Colts
EAGLES vs. Texans (+2.5): Texans
LIONS vs. Vikings (-5.5): Vikings
JETS vs. Packers (-2.5): Packers
BROWNS vs. Bengals (+8.5): Bengals
CARDINALS vs. Rams (-14): Rams
49ERS vs. Bears (-4): 49ers
SAINTS vs. Steelers (+6): Saints
SEAHAWKS vs. Chiefs (-2.5): Chiefs
RAIDERS vs. Broncos (-2.5): Raiders