The spooky season may end Saturday with Halloween, but bettors appear to be avoiding a haunting by fading the Chicago Bears for their Sunday home game versus the New Orleans Saints.
Sportsbooks across Illinois have seen the line move against the hometown team. It opened with the Bears (5-2) as 2-point underdogs, but Monday night’s listless performance in a 24-10 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in which the offense failed to score a touchdown again raised questions about the ceiling of Matt Nagy’s team. Chicago finished with 279 total yards, the fourth straight week it failed to reach 300, and it has totaled 175 rushing yards in that span.
New Orleans (4-2) has won three straight after defeating Carolina 27-24 last Sunday. The Saints will again be without wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, who is out due to COVID-19 protocols, and Michael Thomas — out a sixth straight game due to both a hamstring injury and team disciplinary reasons. Despite those absences, rookie Marquez Callaway delivered with eight catches for 75 yards versus the Panthers, and Alvin Kamara remains a two-way threat rushing and receiving.
Everyone seemingly fading the Bears
The early Sunday night line had the Bears as 2-point underdogs, but bettors flocked to the Saints starting with Monday night’s loss and have furthered that trend all week. As of 2:30 p.m. CDT on Friday, DraftKings and BetRivers are offering a -114/-107 split for the Saints -4.5, while William Hill has the same number at -110. PointsBet has -105 on either side at New Orleans -5 and FanDuel is offering the standard -110 with the Bears as 5.5-point home underdogs.
Bears backers can get a moneyline offering of +195 at both DraftKings and BetRivers, with PointsBet and FanDuel close behind at +190 and William Hill sporting +180. The British-based bookmaker has the Saints -210 on the moneyline, followed by BetRivers and DraftKings (-225), FanDuel (-230), and PointsBet (-240).
All five sportsbooks have an over/under of 43.5 points at the standard -110 after it tumbled throughout the week from its opening of 47. William Hill reported Thursday night that 97% of total dollars wagered at its sportsbook were on the under, including a $5,500 bet for under 44.5 points.
First-half plays
DraftKings and BetRivers are the only sportsbooks offering the Bears as 3.5-point underdogs in the first half with a split of -121/-108. FanDuel and PointsBet are offering a -105/-115 split with the Bears +3, while William Hill counters with -120/+100.
For the first-half over/under, BnDuel is the only outlier at 22.5 points with an offering of +105/-125. The other four sportsbooks have a listing of 21.5 points, with PointsBet and William Hill offering evens (+100) for the over and -120 and -121, respectively, for the under. BetRivers and DraftKings are more balanced with plays of -112 for the over and -115 for the under.
FanDuel has the best first-half moneyline offering for Chicago at +164, edging out DraftKings and BetRivers (+163). PointsBet follows at +155 and William Hill offers +150. On the flip side, William Hill (-170) and PointsBet (-186) are the only books offering New Orleans below -200 for the first two quarters.