Las Vegas’ backing of the Chicago Bears continues.
Joe Ostrowski of 670 The Score recently pointed out that prior to Sunday night’s win over the Minnesota Vikings, the Chicago Bears were listed as 3-point favorites over the Lions this Thursday. But since then, the odds have changed and the Bears are now 4-point favorites. Yippee … right?
Well, wait a minute. Weren’t the Bears 6.5-point favorites against this very team just two games ago when they met at Soldier Field? Why, yes. Yes, they were. Your memory serves you well. The Bears were favored by more when they were at home. But between the quick turnaround and Detroit having the home-field advantage, the line was always going to look different in Week 12 than it did in Week 11.
Education: Home teams generally get three points on the point spread just for playing in their own digs. So basically, Vegas is saying the Bears would be 7-point favorites in this game if it was on a neutral playing field, which seems about right, especially given the short week.
*Be prepared for the odds to change further, depending on the health of Mitch Trubisky, which were expecting to hear about any minute now.
The over/under for the Thanksgiving lid-lifter has been set at 45, which is the second highest total on the board among the three Thursday contests. But still, that feels like it’s on the lower end of the entire slate of Week 12 action. For what it’s worth, the over has come in for each of the Bears’ last three games and in six of their last seven. On the other hand, the under has come in for three of the last four games the Lions have played – with the lone exception being their Week 10 loss at Soldier Field.
Detroit is 37-39-2 on Thanksgiving, but has won four of the last five in a football tradition that dates back to 1934. Of course, Chicago is due for a Turkey Day win in the Motor City, something it hasn’t done since 1993.