The Minnesota Vikings visit the Chicago Bears on Monday night football on ESPN. The Vikings are coming off their first loss of the season as they were dominated by Philadelphia so they will want to have a better effort this week against the last place Bears. The Bears will be getting Jay Cutler back at quarterback but whether that is actually good news is debatable. Let’s look at the contest and Monday Night Football picks.
This matchup in Week 8 is set for Monday, October 31, 2016 at 8:30 pm Eastern on ESPN.
NFL Odds at the Best Sport Betting Tips
Minnesota -5.5, 40.5
Vikings at Bears
The Vikings are 5-1 and playing their second straight road game after losing at Philadelphia last week. The Vikings have not been a good team on Monday Night Football as they haven’t won a game on Monday since 1999.
The Vikings have a popgun offense led by Sam Bradford so they rely on their defense to win games. Minnesota is allowing just 14 points per game, first in the league. The Vikings lead the league in turnover margin at +11. The defense has 16 takeaways (nine interceptions, seven fumble recoveries), the most in the NFL.
Minnesota’s offense hasn’t done much but Bradford at least hasn’t made many mistakes. He has thrown 7 TD passes and has only one interception. The concern for Minnesota on offense is the line that allowed Bradford to be sacked six times and hit twelve times last week.
The Bears will have Jay Cutler under center as Brian Hoyer broke his arm last week against Green Bay. The Bears didn’t look good with Cutler at quarterback earlier this season but he is definitely better than Matt Barkley who is now the backup.
Cutler said that his relationship with head coach John Fox is still good despite the fact that Cutler would still be on the bench if Hoyer was healthy. “I’ve had good conversations with Foxy this week, last week,” Cutler said. “There’s never been any strain in our relationship.”
NFL Odds
The Vikings won both meetings in this series last year, winning 38-17 at home and 23-20 in Chicago. The Vikings have won four of the last five overall in the series and they are 3-2 ATS in those games. Both games last season went over the total but the previous four went under.
The Vikings have historically struggled in Chicago but they did win 23-20 last season. Minnesota had lost the previous seven games in Chicago with three of the last four going under the total at the best online betting sites.
Monday Night NFL Picks
The Vikings should win this game as the Bears are simply awful but Minnesota was exposed a bit last week by the Eagles. Instead of taking a side I will look to go under the total at the best sport betting sites as it is hard to see how the Bears are going to score many points against the Minnesota defense.
