Seattle Seahawks at Chicago Bears Betting Preview
Opening Line: Bears -10
Total Odds: 36.5
Time: 1 PM EST Sunday January 16, 2011 on FOX
The Seahawks became this first team to win their division with a losing record, but they got a lot of new respect by beating the heavily favored New Orleans Saints 41-36 last week. The Bears already lost to the Seahawks at home 23-20 this season and if Seattle can play like they did last weekend they may win their 2nd game this season in the Windy City.
While Seattle did not play much defense last week their offense was stellar with Matt Hasselbeck throwing 4 TD and the rushing offense racking up 149 yards. In their week 6 win over the Bears they sacked Jay Cutler 6 times and Hasselbeck threw for 242 yards. The Bears played much better in the 2nd half of the season and they have to forget that game and get back to playing good D and running the ball.
This season Seattle is 8-9 ATS, including covering last week in the win over the Saints, and the Bears are 9-6-1 ATS. Chicago is only 1-4 ATS in their last 5 playoff home games.
The Bears do not have a great offense, but they were very erratic in the week 6 loss to Seattle going 0/12 on 3rd downs conversions and they only rushed for 61 yards. Cutler only hit on 17/39 of his pass attempts and he did not throw a TD in the game. One big key for the Bears in this game is the play of RB Matt Forte and even though the Seahawks did not have a good season stuffing the run they only gave up 77 rushing yards to New Orleans last week. Forte has to move the chains on the ground so Cutler does not have to do it all.
Bears’ KR stud Devin Hester is another key to this game, as Seattle cannot let him give Chicago great field position on kickoffs.
The Bears gave up the most sacks in the league this season (56) and if Cutler is taken down like he was in the week 6 loss Seattle has a legit chance at another big upset.
Hasselbeck played like he did in his prime last week and he may have to do so again this Saturday. The Bears’ pass defense ranks 20th in the league and they really have to keep tabs on Seattle’s leading WR Mike Williams, who torched them in week 6. Where the Bears are stellar in against the run with DE Julius Peppers and LB Brian Urlacher.
One of the main reasons Seattle won last week was that their rushing offense came alive and Marshawn Lynch rushed for 131 yards including a 67-yard TD run late in the 4th quarter to ice the game.
This is the 2nd week in a row that Seattle is a double-digit underdog.
In some other betting trends for this NFC playoff game:
Seattle is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games as an underdog, 2-8 ATS in their last 10 games as a road underdog of 3.5-10, and has an Over record of 4-0 in their last 4 road games.
Chicago is 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 games as a favorite, 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games as a home favorite, and has an Over record of 4-1 in their last 5 games.
Our Selection : The Bears are not some powerhouse team at home. They did win 5 of their 8 games but were a mediocre 4-4 ATS and did lose straight up to Seattle in October. Here's a key stat for you. Chicago's biggest winning margin at home this season was a 5 points. Take the Seahawks +10 at 5Dimes.com.