The best NFL teams aren’t necessarily the most “fun” teams in the NFL. And they certainly don’t always make for the most fun matchups. Sometimes you just need the right combination of teams for a fun football game - and we might have that here with the Chicago Bears and Las Vegas Raiders.

Sure, both teams are 1-2. But they certainly have a lot of fun players on offense. Ben Johnson has been having a lot of fun with Caleb Williams, Rome Odunze, and DJ Moore. While Ashton Jeanty and Brock Bowers are the young stars of the future. Add in some defenses that haven’t been playing at a high level, and we could have ourselves a fun game. 

Even if you just want to see the Bears vs. Raiders odds and have Bears vs. Raiders picks of your own, don’t forget to scroll down at the end to see how you can scoop up a $1,500 BetMGM Sportsbook sign-up bonus! 

Bears vs. Raiders Predictions For NFL Week 3, Sunday 4:05 PM ET

Given they are in different conferences, these teams really don’t match up that often. The only two meetings over the last five years where a 30-12 Bears in in 2023 and a 20-9 Bears win in 2021. There have been enough changes over that span, including two new QBs, that history has little to no bearing on this matchup.

As we mentioned, both teams are 1-2. The Bears lost a close one to the Vikings in Week 1 before getting beaten by 31 points by the Lions in Week 2. Last week, they beat a banged-up Cowboys team. The Raiders beat the Patriots in New England Week One but have since dropped games to the Chargers and the Commanders over the last two weeks. 

 

 

 

Chicago Bears: Caleb Williams Flashing Upside

There’s one group of players that have been happy with Caleb Williams so far - the fantasy football players. He’s currently the QB3 on the season, thanks to a big game last week, but also his willingness to run. He’s taken off running at least five times in each of the first three games. And his connection with both Rome Odunze and DJ Moore is starting to heat up in Ben Johnson’s scheme. With D’Andre Swift banged up a bit, they may need to lean on Caleb this week. 

The Bears have had a bit of a tough time on defense; there’s no doubt about that. But injuries play a large part in that. They’ve been without both Jaylen Johnson and Kyler Gordon on the backend. They’ll be without Johnson again, but Gordon could return. They haven’t been much better against the run either. They’re currently sitting as a bottom-10 unit per DVOA over at FTN Fantasy.

Las Vegas Raiders: Slow Start For Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty

There’s no doubt these guys are talented. But they’ve been struggling for different reasons. With Brock Bowers, it’s pretty simple - he has an injured knee. With Ashton Jeanty, it’s a little more complicated. In a vacuum, he’s generated 146 yards after contact per Pro Football Focus, which is pretty good. But football is not played in a vacuum, and because of how often he’s been hit behind the line of scrimmage, he only has 144 rushing yards. Hopefully, this offensive line can turn things around and help him out a bit. 

On defense, the Raiders have not been great, especially against the pass, where they rank as the 7th-worst team in DVOA. They kind of cobbled this secondary together this offseason, which actually had Pro Football Focus ranking them as the worst secondary in the league before the season started. Just to check and see how it’s going, I took all the cornerbacks and safeties in the NFL and put them in one bucket over on PFF. None of the starting corners or safeties for the Raiders are grading out within the top 150 players. 

 

 

 

Bears vs. Raiders Odds, Spreads, Total & Betting Lines

As promised, the latest Bears vs. Raiders odds can be found below courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook:

 

 

 

Bears vs. Raiders: Game Total Over 47.5 (+110 at BetMGM Sportsbook)

As we alluded to in the intro paragraph, this is set to be a fun game. Reports are coming in that Bears fans are flying in from all over for this one, and they are expecting almost a 50-50 Raiders-Bears crowd. That’s not ideal for the Raiders as the home team, but what that essentially does is create a neutral field environment where the crowd isn’t necessarily drowning out either team. And that’s a good general environment for play-calling.

We know both of these teams have some tremendous weapons. We know they have play-callers in Ben Johnson and Chip Kelly that aren’t afraid to let it rip. And we know that both teams have defenses that are shaky at best and leaky at worst. To me, this feels like classic conditions for a shootout. So I’m going with the over here. 

 

 


 

Bears vs. Raiders Injury Report & Latest News

Finally, let’s take a quick look at the projected starting lineups for both teams heading into tonight’s matchup:

CHI Bears

LV Raiders

 

 

 

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