Things are not going great for the Chicago Bears right now. Their defensive coordinator abruptly resigned during the middle of Chicago's preparation for their Week 3 tilt against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Bears' offense is an absolute mess. They're 0-2 with a -28 point differential on the young season. Heading into Week 3, only the New York Giants, who lost to the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday Night Football, had a worse point differential coming into the week at -37 thanks to their 40-point drubbing in Week 1. But at least they were coming off a win!
Meanwhile, the Chiefs are getting back on track. They beat the Jacksonville Jaguars in an ugly and low-scoring 17-9 game on the road in Jacksonville. The Chiefs' offense hasn't gone to total fully operational Death Star level quite yet, but are still 1-1 on the season and could easily be 2-0 if Kadarius Toney could simply catch the ball. They should have little to no problem handling the Bears this week. That seems like a very safe prediction to make for this week. How about a couple of more bold ones?
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2. Isiah Pacheco runs for at least 100 yards
Primary running backs have feasted against the Bears so far this season. In Week 1, Aaron Jones practically beat the Bears by himself. He had only nine carries for 41 yards, but one of those went for a score and he helped set up another score with his work on the ground. He also caught two balls for 86 yards and another touchdown. It was a similar story in Week 2 for the Bears. Rachaad White carried the ball 17 times for 73 yards and a touchdown while adding five receptions for 30 yards.
The Bears haven't been great defending running backs whatsoever. The Chiefs' run game hasn't been awesome either, but this is a great spot to get on track. Their offensive line is still one of the best in the league and the Bears' defensive line isn't. On top of that, the Chiefs are big favorites. In fact, they're 12.5 point favorites. Vegas thinks that the Chiefs are going to win this game and win it big. If that's the case, then the Chiefs could take their foot off the gas at some point and use the run game to close the game out.
Isiah Pacheco is a slasher with great speed who can pop a big one at any moment and can also churn out solid gains with the proper blocking. He is questionable for this game but he did do things at practice on Thursday and Friday. If he plays, he should be able to hit triple digits.
1. The Chiefs cover the 12.5-point spread
12.5-point spreads are A LOT to cover in an NFL game and difficult for the favorite to do so. According Fox Sports, double-digit NFL underdogs were 12-7 against the spread since 2000. That's a hit rate of 63.2%. Since 2010, double-digit dogs are 6-3 against the spread with a hit rate of 66.7%. However, the Giants were 10.5-point underdogs against the 49ers on Thursday and the 49ers covered, winning by a final score of 30-12.
It's easy to make the case for the Bears to cover: data is on their side and the Chiefs haven't looked at their best yet. But the Bears' offense as mentioned above is in total disarray, and their defense, now without their defensive coordinator, has been lit up. Jordan Love threw for 245 yards and three touchdowns against the Bears on the road despite a completion percentage over expectation (CPOE) of -12.3 according to NFL Next Gen Stats. In Week 2, Baker Mayfield made up for Love by putting up a CPOE of +14.1 and 317 yards while completing 26 of 34 passes. If those two can put those types of numbers up, imagine what Patrick Mahomes could do against this defense. The Chiefs win and they win by at least two touchdowns. Book it.