Week 7: Las Vegas Raiders at Chicago Bears
Contrasting Styles Clash When Raiders Bring a 5-1 'Over' Record to Chicago
The Las Vegas Raiders (3-3) look to climb over the .500 mark when they travel to Chicago, Illinois to face the 1-5 Bears. Vegas has won and covered two straight games after last week’s 21-17 win against New England as a 3-point favorite. Chicago has covered just once in their last nine games dating back to last season after a 19-13 loss to Minnesota as a 3-point dog. The Raiders are a 3-point favorite with a total of 37. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 pm ET / 10:00 am PT and can be seen on FOX. We start our Raiders vs Bears odds analysis with a deep dive into Vegas.
Raiders vs Bears 
Day/Time:
Location: Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois
Streaming: FOX
Schedule Shines A Light On Vegas
The Las Vegas Raiders are 3-3, but with three of their next four games of the NFL season schedule against teams that will likely miss the postseason, Josh McDaniels team is in a position to separate themselves from mediocrity, but first things first.
Considering how the Chicago Bears came to Allegiant Stadium as a 5.5-point dog in 2021, only to walk away with a 20-9 victory, Vegas can’t afford to take anyone for granted. Both teams lost their starting quarterbacks in week six, but it’s the Raiders that likely will not miss a beat with Aidan O’Connell behind center if Jimmy Garoppolo is ruled.
McDaniels didn’t name a starter for Sunday but did say that Garoppolo dodged a bullet after hurting his back against New England in the second quarter. Despite finding some success, bettors have been burned for years by an organization that is just 46-57 ATS since 2017.
That number is worse when Vegas is in the role of a favorite, failing to cover 24 of 37 games in that role. Against the NFL spread as a road favorite, the Raiders are just 2-12-1 ATS. Vegas is starting to feel good about their team and early betting patterns show the public is buying in. We continue our Raiders vs Bears odds preview by switching our attention to Chicago.
Bears Can’t Get Out Of Their Own Way
We’ve all seen the video this week of center Cody Whitehair blocking teammate Ja’Tyre Carter, which was as much of a metaphor for the Bears season as it was one of the worst looks in recent years. Now, NFL players can make mistakes but it was Chicago’s season in a nutshell.
There is no seat hotter in the NFL than the one Head Coach Matt Eberflus sits on after putting together a 4-19 straight-up record in his first 23 NFL games with Chicago. The losing tickets don’t go back as far as the Raiders, but a 23-48-2 ATS record since 2019 suggests the Bears have been more of an automatic go-against team more than Vegas.
As a dog in that span, Chicago is 18-34-1 ATS and 8-14-1 ATS as a home dog. Maybe history will be on the Bears side as it has in the past with four ATS winners in their last six meetings, but you’d have to go to 2003 to conjure up that statistic.
Chicago, who are on the bottom of the NFC North NFL standings, may be without quarterback Justin Fields who is progressing nicely but is still listed as doubtful after suffering a dislocated thumb. If Fields isn’t able to go, undrafted rookie Tyson Bagent will make the start. We conclude our Bears vs Raiders odds preview with our official selection.
Bettors On Vegas, But Total Is Best Bet
With both teams’ quarterbacks yet to be determined, the books hung Vegas -1 to start. The public was all over that, pushing the number to -3 as the week progressed and more news came out about the starters for each. Over 55% of the money is on the Raiders while 74% of the overall tickets back the cash.
That’s nothing compared to the 97% of the money that is on the under 37 after opening as high as 46.5 in some spots. Vegas books were around 40, but no matter where the opening number was, the public smelled two teams who may be without their starters. We’ve seen this before and we’re not going to bite, although we’re more than happy to allow this number to plummet.
There are too many things that can happen, including both NFL teams starting quarterbacks playing and then you’re stuck with a ridiculous number. Take the over 37 in this one. One interesting side note, the Raiders and Bears have exact opposite records when it comes to totals. Las Vegas is 5-1 to the over, Chicago is 1-5 to the under. Have fun with that. That does it for our Raiders vs Bears odds preview, we wish you the best with your wagers this weekend.
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