{"id":24783,"date":"2012-09-06T14:17:12","date_gmt":"2012-09-06T19:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=24783"},"modified":"2012-09-06T14:17:12","modified_gmt":"2012-09-06T19:17:12","slug":"nfl-week-1-predictions-indianapolis-colts-vs-chicago-bears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nfl-week-1-predictions-indianapolis-colts-vs-chicago-bears-24783\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Week 1 Predictions: Indianapolis Colts vs. Chicago Bears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indianapolis Colts at Chicago Bears
\nSunday, 9\/9\/12, 1:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 CBS
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Chicago -9
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Chicago -10
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 40.5
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 43.5
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Falcons<\/a>
The Chicago Bears are ready to open their 2012 schedule against the rebuilding Indianapolis Colts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Indianapolis opens the regular season on the road, finishing the preseason with a 2-2 record.\u00a0 The Colts ranked second in the AFC in passing yards in those four contests, with rookie quarterback Andrew Luck completing 41-of-66 passes for 522 yards, while throwing for three touchdowns and finishing with a passer rating of 89.3.\u00a0 Expectations are high due to taking the former Stanford star with the first overall selection in the 2012 NFL draft.\u00a0 Indianapolis is 4-4 ATS as an underdog of 3.5 to 9.5 points the last two years, while the \u201cunder\u201d is 6-2 in that situation.<\/p>\n

The Colts own a 22-18 series advantage against the Bears, but suffered a 29-13 setback as 10-point home favorites in the last meeting on Sept. 7, 2008.\u00a0 Indianapolis will be led by new head coach Chuck Pagano, who built his reputation on the defensive side of the ball with the Baltimore Ravens.\u00a0 Wide receiver Reggie Wayne is Luck\u2019s main offensive threat on the perimeter, franking second in franchise history with 862 catches for 11,708 yards.\u00a0 Since 2000, the team has gone 8-4 in its last 12 season openers, but suffered a humiliating 34-7 setback in Houston last year.<\/p>\n

Chicago is hoping that reuniting quarterback Jay Cutler with wide receiver Brandon Marshall will ignite the offense, as the two hooked up 102 times for 1,325 yards and seven touchdowns in 2007.\u00a0 The duo played their first three NFL seasons together with the Denver Broncos.\u00a0 \u201cWe did some good stuff when we were there,\u201d commented Cutler this week.\u00a0 The last time that Marshall lined up against the Colts was in 2009, which resulted in an NFL record 21 catches.\u00a0 Chicago is 5-6 ATS as a home favorite the last two seasons.<\/p>\n

The Bears must protect Cutler under new offensive coordinator Mike Tice, who takes over for the departed Mike Martz, as he\u2019s been sacked an NFL-high 110 times during his time in the Windy City.\u00a0 On the other side of the ball, virtually all discussion has surrounded middle linebacker Brian Urlacher, who went through a full practice on Wednesday.\u00a0 Perhaps the most important player is running back Matt Forte, who inked a major deal in the offseason, ranking third in the league with an average of 123.9 scrimmage yards in 2011.<\/p>\n

Sports bettors will likely back the Bears due to their 3-2 ATS mark in a home game with a total of 42.5 and 45 points.<\/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":"

Indianapolis Colts at Chicago Bears Sunday, 9\/9\/12, 1:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 CBS Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Chicago -9 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Chicago -10 Opening Total:\u00a0 40.5 Current Total:\u00a0 43.5 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Indianapolis opens the regular season on the road, finishing the preseason with a 2-2 record.\u00a0 The Colts ranked second in the AFC in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":4341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,132],"tags":[2046,1027,359,126,763],"class_list":["post-24783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-andrew-luck","tag-brandon-marshall","tag-chicago-bears","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-jay-cutler"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24783","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=24783"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24784,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24783\/revisions\/24784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}