Monday Night Football – Detroit Battles Chicago in NFC North Matchup

The Lions head to Chicago for Monday Night Football and take on the Bears in a big NFC North battle.  The oddsmakers have Chicago as a 6 ½ favorite and the total is set at 47 ½.  Chicago had a bye last week and will look to continue what they have started, jumping out to a 4-1 start.  Detroit won a game that they absolutely had to win last Sunday and very badly need to get this win on Monday night.  With a win they are 3-3 and only 1 back of Chicago.  With a loss they are 2-4 and 3 games back which won’t bode well for the rest of this season.

The Bears have dominated this series recently, winning 7 of the last 8 times the 2 teams have played.  And it is going to be a tough task to knock off the division leaders Chicago this week.  Jay Cutler isn’t putting up huge numbers but he is limiting the mistakes.  He only has 2 interceptions over the last 2 games and with the way the defense is playing mistake free is good enough to get the job done. 

Detroit had to come from 10 points down in the 4^th quarter to force overtime and eventually get the win over Philadelphia last week.  They got a little help from Vick who just can’t seem to keep his hands on the ball lately.  Matt Stafford kept hanging in there and gave the Lions the chance to grind out the win.  He was only 22 of 45 for 311 yards for 1 TD and 1 interception but he also rushed for a TD. 

Stafford better be on his game this afternoon facing this Bear defense.  Charles Tillman and Lance Briggs both had interceptions in their last 2 games for touchdowns so he better be sure where he is throwing the ball on every play.  Any mistakes are going to be hard to recover from as Chicago is allowing their opponents only 14.2 ppg which is the lowest in the league.  Everybody seems to want to jump on the Lions and take the points.  I could see this being a tight game but I could also see the Bears blowing it open.  What I think we see here is lots of defense which is why I am recommending under 47 ½ as the play for Monday night.

Check the latest NFL Scores and Odds

Follow Ask The Bookie on Twitter and Facebook