Tennessee Titans at Chicago Bears Odds
While odds makers are giving the Chicago Bears a fighting chance this Sunday, they have the Tennessee Titans ultimately improving to 9-0 on the season. The NFL odds makers have listed the Titans as 3-point favorites with the total set at 38.
Tennessee is off to a franchise-best start but realizes that things are about to get a lot tougher with most of its remaining games on the road. The Titans are 3-0 on the road thus far this season and a win this week would give them a franchise-best 4-0 road mark to start a season. Tennessee was lucky to extent its winning streak last Sunday as the Green Bay Packers took the Titans to overtime. The win pushed Tennessee’s NFL-best winning streak to 11 games, dating back to last regular season. This game marks the first of five road games the Titans will play down the stretch of the season.
The road has been kind to Tennessee thus far however, outscoring their opponents 71-27 in those contests. No team has broke the 10-point mark on the defense and they have held teams to an average of 266.7 yards per game.
Tennessee’s offense cam to the rescue last week as the defense gave up a season-high 390 yards to Green Bay. The Titans gained 347 yards led by its strong running back duo. Chris Johnson gained 89 yards on the ground and added 72 more through the air and LenDale White rushed for 77 yards. This duo has been getting the job done each and every week, averaging a third-best NFL mark of 149.1 yards per game. They’ll have to do it against a Bears team that is holding opponents to just 81.8 yards per game on the ground. The teams have not played since 2004, but Chicago has won each of the last three meetings.
Chicago been one tough cookie at Soldier Field, winning three straight games since a close loss to Tamps Bay in Week 3. QB Kyle Orton has been a big reason for Chicago’s success this season. He has 858 yards and seven touchdowns in the Bears four home contests. The Bears could be without their leader this week however and that could be a big blow to a team that has won four of its last five games.
Orton has racked up 1,777 yards and 10 touchdowns thus far this season. After getting injured last week against Detroit, former starter Rex Grossman came in to save the day. You could say Grossman was a little rusty going 9 of 19 for 58 yards, but he threw for a touchdowns and also had a game-winning 1-yards sneak. Grossman led the Bears to the Super Bowl in 2006, throwing for 3,193 yards and 23 scores. The Bears are hoping Grossman’s experience will benefit him if his number gets called this week as he directs an offense scoring 27.9 points per game.
Chicago’s offense may be best served to play conservatively this week against a very good Titans defense. The Titans have given up a league low 103 points this season. This one could be a defensive battle and that would definitely favor taking the points with the Bears.
