It’s the final week of NFL preseason, and on Saturday we have a matchup that sees the Bills traveling to Soldier Field to take on the Bears. We take a look at both teams ahead of Saturday’s game and work out the best possible bet to finish preseason on a high.
Will it be Buffalo or Chicago who finish with a winning preseason record this year? Don’t miss our NFL picks and predictions for Bills vs Bears to find out.
Bills vs Bears odds
Bills vs Bears predictions
Both the Bills and Bears come into this, the final week of the NFL preseason, sat on 1-1 records. It’s unlikely that either Sean McDermott or Matt Eberflus go to bed at night worrying about their preseason records, but they won’t want to lose this one ahead of the season starting.
The best bet has to be backing the Bills on the spread. I’m happy to take the -2.5 with McDermott’s team for a number of reasons.
Firstly, McDermott has an impressive record in preseason since becoming a head coach. He’s 13-7 straight-up, and has only had one preseason with a losing record since coming into the league. That was his first season in 2017.
Then there’s the main reason, the fact that we know we’ll see Josh Allen and the rest of the first-stringers for the Bills, at least to start the game. Quarterbacks are key to spread betting in general, but I’d argue that probably increases in preseason when the skill gap between first and second, even third stringers, is so large.
We know for a fact that we’re going to see the Bills play their starters because McDermott has told us so. Whereas Matt Eberflus has yet to confirm whether we’re going to see Justin Fields and the rest of the Bears’ first string.
We’ve seen only a glimpse of Fields this preseason, with the former Ohio State man throwing three passes in the preseason opener against the Titans, although he did manage to score two touchdowns.
One thing to note from those games is that Fields didn’t run once during his short time on the field. That’s a very wise move given the increased chance of injury when out of the pocket, but it’s also indicative that he likely won’t use his legs if we do end up seeing him on Saturday.
The same can’t be said for Allen, who did run last week, admittedly just once against the Steelers.
He completed seven of his 10 passes for 64 yards and no touchdowns. He had more time on the field that Fields did, something to keep in mind for this weekend.
Both the Bills and Bears lost this past week, but I’m of the belief that Buffalo has the better backup quarterbacks compared to Chicago.
We saw an impressive 115 yards and a touchdown for Nathan Peterman this past week, but under him, the likes of Tyson Bagent don’t fill me with confidence. Whereas Kyle Allen and Matt Barkley, while not elite level QBs, are more than capable of leading an offense at this level.
I’d expect them to be able to take the reins and lead the Bills to covering the spread once Josh Allen has been benched.
My best bet: Bills -2.5 (-110 at PointsBet)
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