{"id":9215,"date":"2010-10-16T22:30:40","date_gmt":"2010-10-17T03:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=9215"},"modified":"2010-10-16T21:12:12","modified_gmt":"2010-10-17T02:12:12","slug":"nfl-sunday-preview-seattle-seahawks-at-chicago-bears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nfl-sunday-preview-seattle-seahawks-at-chicago-bears-9215\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Sunday Preview: Seattle Seahawks at Chicago Bears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seattle Seahawks at Chicago Bears
\nSunday, 10\/17\/10, 1:00 PM EDT, TV:\u00a0 FOX
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Chicago -6
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Chicago -6.5
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 37
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 37.5
\nCurrent Moneyline:\u00a0 Chicago -275 \/ Seattle +23<\/strong>5<\/p>\n

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Chicago Bears RB Matt Forte is coming off a career-high 166 yards versus the Panthers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Seattle is looking to avoid its third consecutive 0-3 start on the road and is coming off a bye week that was filled with personnel moves.\u00a0 The Seahawks acquired running back Marshawn Lynch from Buffalo and dealt wide receiver Deion Branch to the Patriots.\u00a0 \u201cI feel this change is a great opportunity for me, not only in football, but in life as well,\u201d Lynch commented.\u00a0 \u201cEverything that happened to me I feel is an opportunity.\u201d\u00a0 The team is averaging just 79.5 yards per game and 3.6 a carry and will go against a Bears defense that has given up 78.6 rushing yards and 3.5 per carry.\u00a0 This will be the 12th regular-season meeting between the squads, with the Seahawks holding a 7-4 series lead, including winning three of the last five contests.\u00a0 The Bears won last year\u2019s game at Qwest Field 25-19.\u00a0 Seattle is 3-10 ATS when playing against a team with a winning record and 1-4 ATS versus the NFC North.<\/p>\n

The Seahawks have two serious weapons on special teams with Leon Washington leading the NFL with a 40.4 kickoff return average and rookie Golden Tate pacing the NFC with an 18-yard punt return average.\u00a0 Those weapons may mean nothing if Seattle\u2019s defense can\u2019t improve upon its pass defense that is allowing 302 yards a contest.\u00a0 Even though the unit has given up a ton of yards, the Seahawks are tied for fourth in the league in red-zone defense, allowing only six touchdowns in 18 possessions inside their own 20-yard line.\u00a0 The team has been unable to create turnovers on the road, with one of its eight takeaways coming away from Qwest Field.\u00a0 This could prove pivotal due to Chicago\u2019s sharing the NFL-lead with 14 forced turnovers.<\/p>\n

Chicago earned a 23-6 win over the winless Panthers on the road last week and now get set to welcome back its starting quarterback.\u00a0 Jay Cutler suffered a concussion in the Bears\u2019 17-3 loss to the Giants two weeks ago due to being sacked a career-high nine times.\u00a0 He has been cleared to play and ready to go.\u00a0 \u201cIt feels good,\u201d Cutler commented.\u00a0 \u201cIt was a long week last week, tough to watch the game.\u201d\u00a0 In his absence, running back Matt Forte stepped his game up in rushing for a career-high 166 yards, after averaging 33.5 rushing yards over the first four games.\u00a0 Sunday\u2019s opponent will offer a major test to the resurgent running game, as the Seahawks rank second in the league against the rush at 72.8 yards allowed per game.\u00a0 The squad is 9-9 ATS at home and the total is 8-10 Over\/Under.<\/p>\n

The Bears will once again have a makeshift offensive line in a group that has featured eight different starters.\u00a0 Chicago is dead last in percentage of sacks allowed, 23rd in rushing and 20th in average gain per rush.\u00a0 Left tackle Chris Williams is expected to return to the starting lineup, but at left guard, a position he hasn\u2019t played since his sophomore season in college.\u00a0 A key in this matchup may be the club\u2019s 0-for-9 mark from their opponents\u2019 one-yard line this year.\u00a0 \u201cThe goal line has been a real frustration for us,\u201d offensive coordinator Mike Martz stated.\u00a0 \u201cWe have to continue to address that and make sure we\u2019re doing the right things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bettors will certainly be interested in finding the Seahawks with a 8-16 ATS mark as an underdog and 20-47 ATS record in October.\u00a0 Chicago has a dismal 15-20 ATS mark as a home favorite of 3.5 to 7 points and the total is 20-16 O\/U in those games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seattle Seahawks at Chicago Bears Sunday, 10\/17\/10, 1:00 PM EDT, TV:\u00a0 FOX Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Chicago -6 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Chicago -6.5 Opening Total:\u00a0 37 Current Total:\u00a0 37.5 Current Moneyline:\u00a0 Chicago -275 \/ Seattle +235 Seattle is looking to avoid its third consecutive 0-3 start on the road and is coming off a bye week […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":4332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,132],"tags":[359,1236,763,3404,3403,425,417],"class_list":["post-9215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-chicago-bears","tag-golden-tate","tag-jay-cutler","tag-leon-washington","tag-marshawn-lynch","tag-matt-forte","tag-seattle-seahawks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9215","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=9215"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9226,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9215\/revisions\/9226"}],"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=9215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}