The wild card portion of the NFL playoffs concludes this evening with the Philadelphia Eagles traveling to face the Chicago Bears. As great as Chicago’s defense is, I’m not sleeping on the Eagles and their ability to come up with crazy plays. The game kicks off at 1:40 p.m PT on NBC, with the Sunday Night Football pairing of Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth calling the game.
The Philadelphia Eagles are looking to two-peat with Super Bowl wins, but have a long way to get there. They have been hovering around .500 all year, but managed to get some impressive wins, one against the Los Angeles Rams. Nick Foles is back in at quarterback while Carson Wentz is injured again. This was the same situation in 2018, so maybe history could be repeating itself, except Foles also has a rib injury and that changes some optimism.
When the Bears traded for Khalil Mack, their defense changed that very instant. Now they have one of the top-ranked defenses in the league and one defensive coordinator Vic Fangio hasn’t called for since his days in San Francisco. Quarterback Mitch Trubisky has also shown improvement, but is still growing as a quarterback. If he can’t get it done, the Bears defense can hold down the fort for him.
Nick Foles’ injury has caused a lot of movement in the betting lines. It opened with the Bears anywhere from 4.5 to 7 points at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark due to Foles’ injury. It has settled at six points, with a couple sportsbooks offering the Bears at -5.5. The Bears defense is too good and something has been off with the Eagles offense. I’ll take the Bears in this one and it’s the most confident pick I can make this year.
Philadelphia Eagles at Chicago Bears
Where: Soldier Field, Chicago Illinois
When: January 6, 2018 | 1:40 p.m. PST
TV: NBC
Announcers: Al Michaels Cris Collinsworth
Radio: Eagles Radio | Bears Radio
Online Streaming: NBC Sports
Odds: Bears, -6.5
Eagles blog: Bleeding Green Nation
Da Bears blog:Windy City Gridiron