When you think of football in mid-December, this is the kind of game you picture. Two middle America, blue-collar teams in the Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears, duking it out in freezing cold temperatures. In fact, it’s set to potentially be one of the coldest games ever played at Soldier Field. This should be a man’s game this weekend.

And you certainly have two gritty teams playing in it. The question then becomes how much extreme weather like that actually impacts a game like this. We’re going to dig into that as well as the other narratives and injuries for this game, to help make our Week 14 predictions and picks for this Browns vs. Bears game.

Even if you just want to see the Browns vs. Bears odds and have Browns vs. Bears picks of your own, stick around so that you can also learn how to snag a $1,500 BetMGM Sportsbook sign-up bonus!

Browns vs. Bears Predictions For Sunday 1:00 PM ET, NFL Week 15

These teams do not play particularly often. In fact, they’ve only played 18 times ever. The Browns lead the series 11-7. They’ve only played twice over the last five years, in 2023 and 2021, with the Browns winning both. But obviously, these are much different teams than they were then - the Browns are a much different team now than they were earlier this year, even.

 The Browns are 3-10 on the season, and they are 1-2 in the Shedeur Sanders era. He beat the Las Vegas Raiders in his debut but fell to the San Francisco 49ers and the Tennessee Titans. The Bears are 9-4, battling for the NFC North. They had just won five straight, but fell in a hard-fought battle this past week to the division rival Green Bay Packers. 

 

 

 

Cleveland Browns: Shedeur Sanders Named Starting QB

So Shedeur Sanders has been starting. But the recent return to practice for Deshaun Watson called into question whether he might take over. The Browns decided to put an end to speculation and make it clear that Shedeur Sanders is the starting QB for the rest of this season.  The Browns seem committed to giving their rookie a chance here, leaning heavily on guys like Harold Fannin Jr, Quinshon Judkins, and Dylan Sampson as well (though there is a chance Sampson could miss this week).

The offense is up-and-coming, but the defense is established. Most sites with grading systems like Pro Football Focus’s grades or FTN’s DVOA stat have them graded top five. And a large part of that is the historic season Myles Garrett is having with 20 sacks - three shy of the NFL record. You can make arguments for a few defenses as the best - like the Texans, Rams, or Seahawks - but the Browns are obviously in that conversation. Right now, no team is allowing fewer passing yards per game than Cleveland. 

Chicago Bears: Looking To Bounce Back

Yes, the Chicago Bears lost in Green Bay to the Packers this week. But it was one of the best losses by any team of the year, if that makes sense. So much so that Packers running back Josh Jacobs even praised their efforts, citing how he can tell they are bought in to head coach Ben Johnson. It doesn’t hurt that Caleb Williams has taken a step forward, and their offense is loaded with both incumbent studs and rookies like Luther Burden, Colston Loveland, and Kyle Monangai. They also did the best job of any team in overhauling their offensive line from last year to this year. 

On defense, they’ve had their struggles. The Bears are currently allowing the fifth-most rushing yards per game of any team and are 12th in pass yards allowed. They’ve struggled to get pressure on the quarterback, generating only 1.8 sacks per game, which is tied for the bottom six among teams. The offense has put up points, but some of these games, like the Steelers and Bengals games, still end up being closer than they should be, due to failures by the defense. 

 

 

 

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

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

 

 

 

Browns vs. Bears: Game Total Over 39 (-110 at BetMGM Sportsbook)

Naturally, our minds assume things become more difficult in the cold. The cold is uncomfortable. And conventional wisdom would have us thinking that, when it is very cold out. Scoring would be down in NFL football games. But, statistically, that’s not actually true.

 A pretty impressive study that was done with multiple sources covering 22 years of data showed that scoring technically increased slightly in extreme cold weather under 10 degrees. Now, it might just even be noise, considering the study showed 42.1 points per game above freezing, 42.6 points per game below 32, and 43.3 points per game below 10 degrees. But what it really tells us is that the temperature itself doesn’t really affect scoring in the NFL.

What does affect scoring are high wind speeds or heavy precipitation. But we aren’t getting that in this game - just cold weather. The Bears have a relatively soft defense that the Browns could absolutely run on and move the ball. And the Bears themselves also have a pretty strong and dynamic offense under Ben Johnson. I think the public might be pushing this over/under down below 40 when it might just end up looking like a normal football game on the field, even if folks are shivering in the stands. 

 

 

 

Browns vs. Bears Injury Report & Latest News

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

CLE Browns

CHI Bears

 

 

 

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