Chicago Bears (6-9) at Detroit Lions (2-13)
NFL Football Week 17: Sunday January 3, 2009 1 PM EST
The Line: Detroit Lions + 3
The Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions close out the 2009-2010 NFL season with a meaningless game at Ford Field.
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As bad as the two win total looks for the Detroit Lions, it’s two more wins than they had a year ago. The Lions are no doubt improved but they still have some ground to cover to become a contender. They’ll get some help in the NFL Draft as they’ll find themselves in familiar position of drafting right near the top. The Lions have been a laughing stock when it comes to draft day but from what we have seen on the field, some of these high picks are paying dividends as Calvin Johnson looks to be one of the NFL’s best wide receivers and Kevin Smith appears to be a viable option at running back. Smith is gone for the season as is last year’s first overall draft pick Matthew Stafford but the Lions have been used to having players injured as it seems the roster has been full of players on the injury list. We still don’t know who will start this game at QB for the Lions but it will either be last week’s starter Drew Stanton or the Veteran Dante Culpepper. Stanton started last week but Culpepper finished, the Lions have simply said they will go with the QB who gives them the best chance to win. With 17 players out for the season, it’s unlikely the Lions will field too many players that they thought at the start of the year would be giving them the best chance to win.
The Chicago Bears are closing out a very disappointing season but at the same time are coming off one of their best played games of the season. The Bears came out last Monday Night at home and handled the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings managed to come back and force overtime but the Bears stood tall, forced a turnover, and then made the big play for the game winning touchdown. It was a feel good win for the Bears who just haven’t had much to feel good about this year. Lovie Smith is on the hot seat and though I think the Bears won’t eat his very large contract, you never know what is going to happen in the business that is the NFL. 
The Bear defense looked good in the first half last week but really crumbled when Brett Favre came after them. It’s almost as if these players are too comfortable.
Detroit is 4-9 against the spread in their last 13 as a home underdog and 0-3-1 against the spread when playing a team with a losing record. Chicago is 1-7 against the spread in theor last eight games overall and 0-5 against the spread in their last five games on the road. The underdog has covered in 8 of the last 11 in this series.
This is one of the old time historic NFL match ups which makes the NFL more fun when both teams are good, unfortunately, this isn’t one of those years. neither of these teams has done anything consistently ths season except lose. This is a game I’ll be staying away from but if I were making a choice I would grab the points.
Mitch’s Pick: Detroit Lions +3
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