{"id":18013,"date":"2011-09-24T16:07:55","date_gmt":"2011-09-24T21:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=18013"},"modified":"2011-09-24T16:07:55","modified_gmt":"2011-09-24T21:07:55","slug":"nfl-predictions-week-3-green-bay-packers-at-chicago-bears-nfc-north-rivalry-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nfl-predictions-week-3-green-bay-packers-at-chicago-bears-nfc-north-rivalry-preview-18013\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Predictions Week 3: Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears NFC North Rivalry Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears
\nSunday, 9\/25\/11, 4:15 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FOX
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Green Bay -4
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Green Bay -4
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 45
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 45.5
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher knows how good Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers is.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Green Bay will be meeting the Chicago Bears for the third time in the past nine months, which includes a 21-14 win in the NFC Championship Game as 3.5-point road favorites.\u00a0 \u00a0 The Packers have won 14 of the last 19 games at Solider Field and head coach Mike McCarthy is 7-2 in September road games.\u00a0 The team comes in with a perfect 2-0 record, picking up wins over the New Orleans Saints (42-34) and Carolina Panthers (30-23), but has actually been out-gained in each contest.\u00a0 Green Bay is the only team in the NFL to register four 2-0 starts in the past five seasons.\u00a0 Over the last two-plus seasons, the team is 13-8 ATS on the road.<\/p>\n

The Packers are being led once again by the offensive prowess of quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who has registered a 104.3 passer rating since the start of last season, which is second only to New England\u2019s Tom Brady.\u00a0 He has completed 70.8 percent of his passes for 620 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions in the opening two weeks.\u00a0 On the other side of the ball, the team has struggled tremendously against the pass, allowing opponents to throw for over 400 yards in both contests.<\/p>\n

Chicago is definitely looking for a little more balance this week after calling 52 pass plays and just 11 runs versus New Orleans last week.\u00a0 Offensive coordinator Mike Martz has heard head coach Lovie Smith loud and clear during practice this week.\u00a0 \u201cIf you\u2019re looking for blame, blame me,\u201d commented Martz in practice.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s just one of those things that happens.\u201d\u00a0 The Bears will need to call more running plays to soften the Packers\u2019 pressure, as signal-caller Jay Cutler has been sacked 11 times already this season.\u00a0 The offensive line allowed an NFL-high 56 a year ago.\u00a0 Chicago is 10-11 ATS as an underdog the past two-plus seasons.<\/p>\n

The Bears defense is focused on stopping Rodgers, who is the first quarterback to throw for more than 4,000 yards in each of his first two seasons as a starter.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s got everything,\u201d commented Chicago linebacker Brian Urlacher.\u00a0 \u201cHe knows that coverage you are in.\u00a0 He knows when to run the ball.\u201d\u00a0 Ironically enough, the team has had success against Green Bay\u2019s offense recently, allowing 17, 10 and 14 points in three games last season.\u00a0 On the injury front, Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler is hoping that wide receivers Earl Bennett and Roy Williams will be inside the huddle Sunday, as both are questionable at this point.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Bears due to their 6-2 ATS mark versus winning teams, while the Packers are just 7-6 ATS versus divisional foes.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss out on a winning season and let the NFL handicappers at Maddux Sports line your pockets with cash.\u00a0 Long term packages are available now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears Sunday, 9\/25\/11, 4:15 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FOX Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Green Bay -4 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Green Bay -4 Opening Total:\u00a0 45 Current Total:\u00a0 45.5 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Green Bay will be meeting the Chicago Bears for the third time in the past nine months, which includes a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":4339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,132],"tags":[416,359,1119,763,2589,5431],"class_list":["post-18013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-chicago-bears","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-jay-cutler","tag-nfc-north","tag-soldier-field"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18013"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18014,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18013\/revisions\/18014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}