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Seahawks vs. Bears Week 15 NFL Betting Preview + Prediction

Seattle Seahawks vs Chicago Bears Sunday NFL football. Dave B weighs in with his free pick and updated NFL odds for the week 15 Seahawks vs. Bears betting matchup.

NFL Week 15 – Seattle vs Chicago

The Seattle Seahawks head East in Week 14 on a mini two game win streak to take on a reeling Bears squad that has lost three straight games. Both teams are in the middle of the NFC Wild Card race.

Seattle Seahawks (6-7) at Chicago Bears (7-6)
When: 1:00 PM ET, Sunday, December 18, 2011
Where: Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois
Broadcast: FOX
Seahawks vs. Bears Betting Lines from betonline.com
Spread: Bears -3.5
Moneyline: Seahawks +165: Bears -190
Over/Under: 35.5 points

The question is – which team is in better shape? The 6-7 Hawks or the 7-6 Bears.

Seattle is undoubtedly playing their best football of the season – it may be a tad late but the coaches, the management and the fans of the Hawks have to be happy that their team finally showed up after going 2-6 to start the season. Seattle trails Atlanta by just two games with three games remaining for one of the NFC Wild Card spots.

Seattle’s offense has steadily improved as the season has worn along. Eight weeks ago, Seattle had the 27th ranked passing game and the 30th ranked running game. Fast forward to now – the Hawks are 24th in passing and 20th in rushing.

Tarvaris Jackson has settled into his role as a “game manager” and has thrown at least one touchdown in each of his last four games while Marshawn Lynch has absolutely come alive – He has hit the century mark for the five of his last six games and has scored in a very impressive nine straight games. Lynch leads the league in rushing since Week 9 with 706. The Hawks offense is formidable suddenly and poised to keep its run going.

Defensively, Seattle has been terrific lately. They are now Top 15 in almost every defensive category in the NFL – 14th against the pass and 11th against the run. Against an anaemic Chicago offense, the Hawks defense appears poised for yet another big outing.

The Chicago Bears have lost three straight games culminating in the meltdown in Denver last week. Injuries to their best two offensive players have crippled this team – the defense can’t do everything! [soliloquy id=”82219″]

Those of you who complained about Jay Cutler in Chicago now know – Cutler has done pretty well with what he has to work with. Caleb Hanie has been nothing short of terrible since Cutler went down with injury but there is a slight chance that Cutler may return next week! The Bears currently own the league’s 23rd ranked passing offense and their rank continues to slide as Mr. Hanie continues to operate. It is hard to imagine anyone in the Bears passing game doing any damage this Sunday especially against an emerging Seattle defense.

Matt Forte had the Bears with a Top 8 rushing attack but his injury has left the bulk of the work in the hands of Marion Barber – capable but certainly not on the same level as most of the elite running backs. His two mistakes last week allowed the Broncos to pull another win from their hats! Barber should still be a factor in this game – the Bears are 9th in rushing and Barber himself had over 100 yards last week.

The real picture of why the Bears are struggling lies in one stat – the team has scored a combined 13 points in their last two losses combined – not nearly good enough if the Bears hope to continue on to the post season.

Thank goodness for Chicago’s defense. Surprisingly, they are 28th in the NFL in pass defense (256 yards per game allowed) and they are 10th in rush defense. However, this unit has given up nearly 104 yards per game on the ground during their three game losing streak. They have to be prepared to be on the field a whole lot – the offense doesn’t look like they are going to help out a whole lot!

Betting Prediction: The Seattle Seahawks are 4-1 SU in their last five games. On the road, Seattle is a miserable 2-8 SU in their last 10 and 6-17-1 ATS in their last 24. Against Chicago, Seattle is 2-4 SU in six and 3-6 ATS in nine. Seattle is 2-4 SU and ATS in their last six trips to Chicago. The Bears are 4-1 SU in their last five games at home.

Defense will be on display in this game guaranteed making the Under an intriguing play. In a low scoring game I trust Tarvaris Jackson and Marshawn Lynch a whole lot more than I trust Caleb Hanie and Marion Barber. I like the road underdog in this one – Seattle is Hot and Chicago is Not!

Pick: Seattle Seahawks +3.5 and the Under – 35.5 points

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By DaveB

Dave B has been a Fantasy Football writer for us for 10 years. A couch potato wannabe, Dave’s insights have been read by 10’s of people for years. He hope’s for world peace + global relaxation. Enjoy and remember only smoke things that are completely natural.