Bears Colts Line

Written by Jack Jones - Google +

It’ll be a rematch of Super Bowl XLI when the Chicago Bears head to the new Lucas Oil stadium in Indianapolis to take on the Colts in what will be the first Sunday night game of the season televised on NBC. Take a look at our preview below or head straight to the bottom to see the score we have for our Bears/Colts predictions. The early line set by the oddsmakers show the Colts as a 9.5-point favorite over the Bears with the over/under coming in at 44.

The Colts may have to break in their new stadium without Peyton Manning, who after 160 straight starts at quarterback might be out for the opener. He is listed as probable, which means there is a 75% chance that he’ll play, but our guess is that you’ll see him suiting up in week 1 even though he’s recovering from surgery to remove an infected bursa sac from his left knee.

Indianapolis is going to need their star to be healthy if they plan on extending their NFL record of five straight 12-plus win seasons. The team can also move into second place on the all-time list of consecutive ten-win seasons with seven if they reach the double digit plateau in 2008, that would tie them up with the Dallas Cowboys, but still leave them well behind the mark set by the 49ers from 1983 to 1998. The Colts have dominated the division lately by winning five straight AFC titles and by making a league high six straight playoff appearances.

Whoever is at quarterback will have one of the most talented receiver corps in the game to throw too, led by Pro Bowlers Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison. Harrison is coming off one of the most disappointing seasons of his career (playing just five games due to a left knee injury), and also an off-season that was marred with him being allegedly involved in a shooting. Wayne finally broke through in Harrison’s absence, leading the NFL with 1,510 receiving yards. The team also has talented second-year guy Anthony Gonzalez who should be primed to break out.

Another target is tight end Dallas Clark, who can also move over to the slot. Joseph Addai enters his third year in the league at running back and he can become the first running back in Colts history to rush for at least 1,000 yards in each of his first three seasons in the league with a solid 2008 campaign.

Defensively this team has made big strides in recent years. One of the big reasons for that has been the play of safety Bob Sanders, who won the league’s Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2007.

The Bears have seen a bigger decline than the Colts have since their Super Bowl run, especially with the offense deteriorating and playing inconsistently. The team will rely heavily on a rookie running back, Matt Forte, who is taking over the for bust Cedric Benson.

Kyle Orton has won the starting job at quarterback over Rex Grossman, and will try to lead this team to a series of wins like he put together when Grossman was injured in 2006.

Defensively this team is getting older, but they still have the talent at linebacker with Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs, plus a secondary that should be as good as anyone at keeping up with the talent the Colts have at receiver.

Predicted Score: Colts 27, Bears 17

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