The NFL is back for week 8 of the regular season as the Los Angeles Chargers play host to the Chicago Bears in the SoFi Stadium for Sunday night football.
The Chargers have had a poor season so far with a 2-4 record heading into this game, while the Bears have been even worse with a 2-5 record for the campaign thus far.
We’ll take a look at the match-up and provide you with our best free NFL betting picks to see if we can earn you some extra cash while you take in the action on the field.
The Chargers on the other hand have had a really mixed start to their season, and currently have a losing record.
They opened their season with a close-fought 36-34 defeat to the Miami Dolphins in week 1 while week 2 wasn’t any better for them as they went up against the Tennessee Titans and fell to a 27-24 overtime defeat.
Week 3 was more successful thanks to a 28-24 win over the Minnesota Vikings, where a first-quarter shutout helped them to victory as they scored a touchdown in all four quarters, before week 4 saw them beat the Las Vegas Raiders 24-17 thanks to a dominant first-half which meant their scoreless second half didn’t matter ahead of a bye in week 5.
Week 6 saw them go up against the Dallas Cowboys and suffered another close loss 17-20, with Dallas scoring 10 points in the final quarter to claim the win, before a beating from reigning champions Kansas City Chiefs last time out in a 17-31 game.
Chicago meanwhile have had a torrid time of things themselves, with some heavy defeats to open the season.
Week 1 saw them get smashed 38-20 by the Green Bay Packers, before Tampa Bay Buccaneers claimed a 27-17 win in week 2. That was followed up by a 41-10 thumping by the Chiefs, before a close-fought game against the Denver Broncos saw them lose 31-28 to go 0-4 in their opening four games.
They finally claimed a win in week 5 when they put the Washington Commanders to the sword with a 40-20 win, before the Vikings condemned them to a 19-13 defeat the following week. Last time out against the Raiders they were successful though with a 30-12 win, and they’ll be hoping to build some momentum now.
The Chargers have mostly won the games they were expected to and lost those they would have expected to lose, but considering they had hopes of winning the Super Bowl in pre-season they have been terrible.
LA should be able to make enough plays to beat the Bears, especially without Justin Fields. The Bears offensive line has given up 27 sacks, the third-most in the NFL, and Bagent may be running for his life from Khalil Mack, Joey Bosa, and Morgan Fox with their combined 15 sacks for the season.
Chicago’s defense, which has given up the fifth-fewest rushing yards per game (82.3), should limit the Chargers’ running game and keep them in the game. But Justin Herbert has the weapons to pick apart the Bears passing defense, which is allowing the fifth-most yards per game against.
Sure, LA has superstar-caliber players on both sides of the ball, but they haven’t looked anywhere near like the Super Bowl dark horse many predicted. The Chargers defense ranks worst against the pass, allowing 310 yards per game, and there is a blueprint to follow if you want to cause them problems.
While the Chargers should win this game, the Bears have the tools to at least keep it respectable and taking them to cover the spread is a great value for two teams who are criminally underperforming.
Check out our review for MyBookie sports betting here.
These are two really bad defenses but offensively the Chargers have failed to hit 25+ points in four of their past five games, and the Bears offense has scored 20 points or fewer in four of their seven.
As for the game totals, three of Chicago’s seven games haven’t hit the 47-point total which would see this bet come up as a loser while two of the Chargers’ six games haven’t hit the total.
If they both go toe-to-toe then there is a chance the overs lands
Both teams are struggling to score big points and both are likely to go extra safe defensively knowing that about the other team, so expect a low-scoring game and for this ticket to cash to earn yourself some extra bank.
Check out our review for BetUS sports betting here.