{"id":20524,"date":"2011-12-24T12:53:22","date_gmt":"2011-12-24T17:53:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=20524"},"modified":"2011-12-24T12:53:22","modified_gmt":"2011-12-24T17:53:22","slug":"sunday-night-nfl-football-picks-packers-host-bears-in-nfc-north-rivalry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/sunday-night-nfl-football-picks-packers-host-bears-in-nfc-north-rivalry-20524\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Night NFL Football Picks: Packers host Bears in NFC North rivalry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers
\nSunday, 12\/25\/11, 5:20 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 NBC
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Green Bay -13
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Green Bay -11
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 44
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 42
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Bears
Aaron Rodgers and the Packers are coming off their first loss but can clinch the top seed in the NFC with a win over Chicago.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The roles will be reversed from the second meeting a year ago when the Chicago Bears visit the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football.\u00a0 Last year, it was the Bears (7-7) who had an opportunity to knock the Packers (13-1) out of the playoff picture at Lambeau Field in the NFL\u2019s oldest rivalry.<\/p>\n

That obviously didn\u2019t work out too well for Chicago with Green Bay (-11, O\/U 42) surviving the season finale with a 10-3 victory and putting together a 19-game winning streak that ended last week with a 19-14 loss at Kansas City.\u00a0 The defending Super Bowl champion Packers have won three straight games in the series, including a 21-14 victory in last year\u2019s NFC Championship Game and a 27-17 win at Soldier Field earlier this season.<\/p>\n

Last Sunday\u2019s setback against the Chiefs ended Green Bay\u2019s dream of completing a perfect season, but the team can clinch the top seed in the NFC playoff race with a victory against the Bears while also eliminating them from postseason contention.\u00a0 The Packers are will still be without star wide receiver Greg Jennings due to a sprained knee, and second-year offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga is expected to join him and rookie tackle Derek Sherrod on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

Chicago\u2019s season fell apart after starting quarterback Jay Cutler suffered a fractured right thumb in a 31-20 win over San Diego in Week 11.\u00a0 The Bears were riding a five-game winning streak until Caleb Hanie took over under center in a 25-20 loss at Oakland the following week.\u00a0 Hanie played so poorly in losing his four starts \u2013 throwing three touchdown passes and nine interceptions \u2013 that he was benched this week in favor of veteran Josh McCown.<\/p>\n

McCown has not started a game since 2007 when he was with the Raiders, and his only action since 2009 with Carolina came last week in a 38-14 home loss to Seattle.\u00a0 He attempted two passes, completed one and threw a pick in relief of Hanie after he threw his second interception for a touchdown against the Seahawks.<\/p>\n

Running back Matt Forte (sprained knee) and wide receiver Johnny Knox (back) will also literally hurt Chicago\u2019s chances for success offensively against Green Bay while All-Pro kick returner Devin Hester (ankle) did not practice all week and could miss the game as well.\u00a0 In addition, RB Marion Barber is doubtful with a calf injury, which means third-year player Kahlil Bell will be counted on to help take some pressure off McCown.<\/p>\n

The UNDER has cashed in the last eight meetings between the Bears and Packers, who have scored more than 21 points only once in the past seven.\u00a0 Chicago has not won in Green Bay since 2007 but covered the spread there last year as an 11-point underdog.<\/p>\n

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

Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers Sunday, 12\/25\/11, 5:20 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 NBC Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Green Bay -13 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Green Bay -11 Opening Total:\u00a0 44 Current Total:\u00a0 42 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker The roles will be reversed from the second meeting a year ago when the Chicago Bears visit the Green Bay […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":3938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,132],"tags":[359,592,6234,1119,2589,1772,1930,1922,2757,5479,6212],"class_list":["post-20524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-chicago-bears","tag-christmas","tag-christmas-day","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-nfc-north","tag-nfl-betting","tag-nfl-odds","tag-nfl-picks","tag-pro-football","tag-sunday-night-football","tag-week-16"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20524","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\/194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20524"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20526,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20524\/revisions\/20526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}