NFL Handicapping: Browns vs Bears
Sunday, November 1st – Soldier Field – Chicago, IL
NFL Point Spread: Bears -13, O/U: 40
This is another game that won’t be found in the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s archives… unless there’s a Football Follies section. Cleveland Browns brings its dysfunctional team and its particularly horrendous offense into the Windy City to play a bunch of Bears who are not living up to preseason expectations, at least not in the case of Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler.
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Coach Lovie Smith’s mistake-prone signal caller is plummeting as quickly as Kyle Orton’s stock is rising for the undefeated Denver Broncos. It’s hard to imagine things getting any worse for the Bears than their 45-10 face-plant against Cincinnati on Oct. 25. The Browns seem to embarrass themselves every week; coach Eric Mangini’s club lost, 31-3 to Green Bay, in a typically dreadful outing.
NFL Handicapping: What The Browns Have To Do To Win
Complete downfield passes or any passes, for that matter. Derek Anderson, part of the quarterbacking merry-go-round that has robbed this team of any continuity in 2009, is playing a woeful brand of ball. Last week’s pitiful performance against the Packers, in which Anderson threw for only 99 yards, marked the third time in five starts this season that Brady Quinn’s competitor failed to reach 100 passing yards in a game. Anderson threw for 92 yards in a loss to Baltimore, and for only 23 yards in the team’s lone win at Buffalo. [soliloquy id=”82219″]The 1-6 Browns are an unhappy lot, torn apart by Mangini’s indecisiveness and suspect day-to-day management of team affairs. If they expect to win, they have to hit big plays; if they are forced to slowly dink and dunk the ball down the field, they won’t have the starch or the stomach to do so.
NFL Handicapping: What The Bears Have To Do To Win
Threaten Jay Cutler with a benching if he throws more than one interception. Seriously, in light of Cleveland’s utter lack of any offensive potency whatsoever, the only way the Bears can realistically lose this game (which might get Lovie Smith fired, the way things are going) is if Cutler tosses a pick-six and throws in a few other interceptions to boot. The Bears did get crushed at Cincinnati last week, but Bengal quarterback Carson Palmer – who riddled Chicago’s secondary for 20 completions in just 24 pass attempts – is an elite NFL passer. Derek Anderson – or anyone else Mangini might turn to in this upcoming encounter – won’t do anything to threaten Chicago’s back line of defense. If the Bears don’t slip on the banana peel and hand-deliver points to the Browns, they’ll win. One doesn’t need a degree from M.I.T. or Yale to figure that one out.
NFL Handicapping: Outlook & Pick
Chicago might not be spectacular in this game, but with even a modestly sound performance, the Bears should run all over Cleveland, which could very well be worse than either the Lions or the Rams. Take the Bears minus the points; the under could get dicey, but it’s more probable than not.
NFL Point Spread Pick: Bears -13 & Under 40
