{"id":26797,"date":"2012-12-22T13:57:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-22T18:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=26797"},"modified":"2012-12-22T13:57:00","modified_gmt":"2012-12-22T18:57:00","slug":"nfl-picks-against-the-spread-chicago-bears-at-arizona-cardinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nfl-picks-against-the-spread-chicago-bears-at-arizona-cardinals-26797\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Picks Against The Spread: Chicago Bears at Arizona Cardinals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago Bears at Arizona Cardinals
\nSunday, December 23, 2012, 4:25 pm Eastern, TV: Fox, NFL Sunday Ticket
\nUniversity of Phoenix Stadium – Glendale, Arizona
\nOpening Line: Chicago -5 1\/2
\nCurrent Line: Chicago -5 1\/2
\nOpening Total: 37 1\/2
\nCurrent Total: 36 1\/2
\nOpening Money Line: Bears -240 \/ Cardinals +200
\nCurrent Money Line: Bears -240 \/ Cardinals +200<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Bears
The 8-6 Chicago Bears are desperate for a win as they travel to the Arizona Cardinals Sunday. Chicago is a 5.5 point road favorite.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a 7-1 start, the Chicago Bears have since gone 1-5 to drop to 8-6. The Bears are in serious jeopardy of missing the playoffs as they are tied with 4 other teams for the last two spots in the NFC playoffs. Chicago faced a similar situation last season as they started off 7-3 but went 1-5 down the stretch to miss the playoffs. The Bears face a must win situation at the 5-9 Arizona Cardinals Sunday.<\/p>\n

Chicago is coached by Lovie Smith. The Bears lost at home last week to the Green Bay Packers 21-13. The Packers clinched the NFC North title with the win. Smith could be fired if the Bears suffer two late season collapses in a row. Chicago is 6-8 ATS and the total is 7-7 this season.<\/p>\n

Arizona started off the season 4-0 under coach Ken Whisenhunt. However, the Cardinals then proceeded to lost 9 straight games. Arizona snapped that losing streak last week with a 38-10 romp over the terrible Detroit Lions last week at home. The Cardinals are 6-7-1 ATS and the total is 5-9 this season.<\/p>\n

Chicago has won five of the last seven against Arizona but the Cardinals won the last meeting 41-21 in Chicago in 2009. The last time Chicago played in Arizona was in 2006 when the Bears were down 23-3 late in the third but came back to win 24-23. That led to then Arizona coach Dennis Green’s infamous “The Bears are who we thought they were” rant.<\/p>\n

Chicago is averaging 305.4 yards per game on offense including 185.9 passing yards and 119.6 rushing yards. The Bears are #29 in total offense and #28 in passing. Chicago is outscoring teams 23-17 this season. The Bears are +14 in turnovers. Chicago has forced 36 sacks and allowed 41 this season. The Bears are 78\/204 on third and fourth down conversions. On defense, Chicago is allowing 319.6 yards per game including 210.6 passing yards and 109 rushing yards. The Bears are #12 in rush defense, but in the top 6 in the other defensive categories. Chicago has 8 special teams \/ defensive touchdowns this season including 7 pick sixes.<\/p>\n

Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler has completed 59.7% of his passes for 2,630 yards with 17 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, along with 33 carries for 196 yards. He has been sacked 35 times this season. Cutler is probable with a neck injury. If Cutler can’t go it will be back-up Jason Campbell who will get the start. Campbell has completed\u00a0 62.7% of his passes for 265 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.<\/p>\n

Running back Matt Forte has 212 carries, 903 yards and 3 touchdowns, along with 41 catches, 312 yards and a touchdown. Back-up Michael Bush is out for the season with a rib injury. He had 411 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns, along with 9 catches. Armando Allen and Kahlil Bell will also get a few carries.<\/p>\n

Receiver Brandon Marshall has 107 carries, 1,398 yards with 10 touchdowns. He is probable with a hamstring injury. Alshon Jeffery has 19 catches, 256 yards and 3 touchdowns. Earl Bennett has 23 catches, 250 yards and a touchdown. He is probable with a concussion. Devin Hester has 23 catches, 242 yards and a touchdown. He also returns kicks and punts for the Bears. Kellen Davis has 17 catches, 210 yards and 2 touchdowns. Kicker Robbie Gould is out for the season with a calf injury. The Bears signed veteran Olindo Mare to replace Gould. Nine defensive players are listed on the injury report.<\/p>\n

The Cardinals are averaging 264.4 yards per game on offense, including 184.2 passing yards and 80.2 rushing yards. Arizona is being outscored 22-16 this season. The Cardinals are 29th or worse in all offensive categories, including last in total offense and against the rush. The Cardinals are +3 in turnovers. Arizona has forced 36 sacks and has allowed 52 this season. The Cardinals are 60\/224 on third and fourth down conversions. On defense, Arizona is allowing 335.8 yards per game, including 199.3 passing yards and 136.5 rushing yards. The Cardinals are #4 in pass defense, and #28 in rush defense. Arizona is #11 in total defense. The Cardinals have three defensive touchdowns and have allowed 7 on special teams and defense.<\/p>\n

The Cardinals have used 3 quarterbacks this season, but none have really been effective. Kevin Kolb has completed 59.6% of his passes for 1,169 yards with 9 touchdowns and 3 interceptions, along with 16 carries, 100 yards and a touchdown. He has been sacked 27 times this season. He is out for the season with broken ribs. John Skelton has completed 54.2% of his passes for 1,132 yards with 2 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. He has been sacked 15 times this season. Rookie Ryan Lindley has completed 51.1% of his passes for 611 yards, with no touchdowns and 6 interceptions. He has been sacked 10 times this season. Lindley will start the Bears’ game.<\/p>\n

Running back LaRod Stephens-Howling\u00a0 has 99 carries, 338 yards and 4 touchdowns, along with 16 catches for 109 yards. Beanie Wells has 84 carries, 231 yards and 5 touchdowns. William Powell will also get some carries. Ryan Williams is out for the season with a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n

Receiver Larry Fitzgerald has 61 catches, 674 yards and 4 touchdowns. Andre Roberts has 56 catches, 697 yards and 5 touchdowns. Tight end Rob Housler has 45 catches and 417 yards. He is questionable with a knee injury. Michael Floyd had 31 catches, 349 yards and a touchdown. Early Doucet has 28 catches, but he is out with a concussion.\u00a0 Nineteen Cardinals are listed on the injury report including 9 defensive players and 5 offensive linemen.<\/p>\n

Chicago is 4-1 ATS after gaining less than 250 yards, 10-4-1 in road games against teams with losing home records, 2-5 after scoring less than 15 points, 1-4 on grass, 1-5 overall, 1-6 against NFC teams, 0-6 after allowing 350 yards or more, and 0-5 in December.<\/p>\n

Arizona is 6-2 ATS after gaining less than 250 yards, 5-2 after passing for less than 150 yards, 3-7-1 overall, 2-5-1 against NFC teams, 3-9 after allowing 90 rushing yards or less, 1-3-1 against teams with losing records, 2-6 after allowing less than 15 points, 1-4 at home and 1-5 on grass. The Cardinals have covered 4 of the last 5 against the Bears.<\/p>\n

I know Arizona snapped a 9 game winning streak last week against the Lions. However, they still had less than 200 yards, and were helped by 4 Detroit turnovers that led to 28 Arizona points, including two pick sixes. I don’t see a lot of scoring between the Cardinals and Bears as both defenses are among the best in the league and the offenses struggle to put it mildly. I think the Bears win as they wear down the Cardinal defense with Matt Forte running the ball.<\/p>\n

Get this week’s NFL picks now. We are red hot as the playoffs approach.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chicago Bears at Arizona Cardinals Sunday, December 23, 2012, 4:25 pm Eastern, TV: Fox, NFL Sunday Ticket University of Phoenix Stadium – Glendale, Arizona Opening Line: Chicago -5 1\/2 Current Line: Chicago -5 1\/2 Opening Total: 37 1\/2 Current Total: 36 1\/2 Opening Money Line: Bears -240 \/ Cardinals +200 Current Money Line: Bears -240 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40249,"featured_media":4332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,132],"tags":[646,359,2539,2103,2508,763,3574,425,2589,2587,31,1772,1930,1922],"class_list":["post-26797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-arizona-cardinals","tag-chicago-bears","tag-football-betting","tag-fox","tag-free-nfl-pick","tag-jay-cutler","tag-larry-fitzgerald","tag-matt-forte","tag-nfc-north","tag-nfc-west","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-betting","tag-nfl-odds","tag-nfl-picks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26797","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\/40249"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26797"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26812,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26797\/revisions\/26812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}