Chicago Bears vs Green Bay Packers Odds & Picks

Written September 11, 2009 by Rock Henderson

bears-packers-predictions-091109 The Chicago Bears made headlines during a chaotic off season acquiring Pro Bowl QB Jay Cutler from the Denver Broncos for Kyle Orton and their first round draft pick. Cutler forced his way out of Denver and now inherits a strong defense that will not force him to try and out score each team on a weekly basis. The Packers were much quieter over the summer as their biggest upgrade was hiring Dom Capers as defensive coordinator and switching to a 3-4 alignment. Both teams hope to make a statement for the NFC North title as three teams should contend for the division The NFL odds for Sunday have the Packers as 3.5 point home favorites over the Bears with the total set for 46.5 points.

Chicago finished 2008 with a sneaky 9-7 record but missed the playoffs for the second consecutive year. The defense was plagued by numerous injuries a year ago and released oft injured FS Mike Brown but should be one of the top units again in 09 with everyone healthy. Second year RB Matt Forte might have been the most surprising player of the 2008 Draft. Forte started all 16 games as a rookie running for 1238 yards and catching 63 balls out of the backfield. To put it frankly, he was their entire offense a season ago. While the QB position was improved by a considerable amount, it is still unknown who Cutler will target for receivers. TE Greg Olson led the team in catches last year and back up TE Desmond Clark was second on the team with 44 grabs. No WR’s were added to the mix through free agency so the Devin Hester experiment will continue. Cutler is hot headed and has already quarreled with Hester through the media once so it will be interesting to see how the Bear’s offense responds when it faces adversity.

Packer nation has to be happy that the 2008 season is behind them for a couple reasons. A 6-10 record following a remarkable 13-3 season is disappointing in itself and to add salt to the wound local hero Brett Favre suited up for the New York Jets. Many Packer fans were outraged at choosing unproven Aaron Rodgers to quarterback the team and pushing Favre out of the picture. Rodgers actually performed remarkably well in his first full season as a starter throwing for over 4,000 yards and 28 touchdowns. WR Greg Jennings will be Rodger’s main target again after combing for almost 1300 yards and 9 touchdowns in 2008. No running back gained more yardage than Ryan Grant in the last 5 weeks of the season and Green Bay hopes that output carries over into the new season. This offense is full of playmakers and should be able to move the ball on any defense in the league. The other side of the ball is where they will have to improve in order to have a successful season. The 3-4 defense should provide a bigger pass rush and allow Al Harris and Charles Woodson to play their aggressively styled man to man coverage.

The Packers are favored by 3.5 at home in the opener. This is one of the more generous week 1 lines and we see the Pack covering this number with ease. Green Bay’s first team offense was scoring at will in the preseason while Chicago’s seemed out of synch. Play Green Bay in the late Sunday night game and cap off the first NFL Sunday of 2009 in style.

Rock’s Score Prediction: Green Bay 28, Chicago 17

Rock’s Pick: Take Green Bay Packers -3.5

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