The Chicago Bears will try to quickly overcome the loss of the Miracle in Maryland when they travel to Arizona in Week 9 to face Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals. Chicago’s schedule in the second half of the season is full of tough teams, so coming away with wins in winnable games is crucial to its playoff hopes.

The Cardinals surprisingly come into this week sitting in first place in the NFC West, but they’ll need to keep winning to maintain that spot, as both the 49ers and Seahawks hold the same record.

Let’s look at the latest odds for this NFC matchup, then I’ll predict the final score.

Odds DraftKings Sports Betting

Radiate

money line

Total

The Bears initially opened as 1-point favorites, but the line has since changed and they are now 1.5 points behind. The total dropped by one point from 45.5 to 44.5.

In this week’s issue “272 Road to Betting“, I explained why I’m rooting for the Bears to win in Arizona:

A tough test awaits Kyler Murray with the Bears, who rank second in the NFL in opponent return EPA and sixth in opponent return success rate. The Bears’ defense doesn’t have enough credibility to be a dominant unit this season. If Chicago can get any level of production from the offense, they can beat Arizona on the road.

Fortunately, the Cardinals’ defense is one of the worst in the league; He ranks 29th in opponent EPA per play and last in opponent success rate. The Bears certainly can’t have a bad performance against a bad defense two weeks in a row.

As for the total, I’ll trust it to stay under the total considering how much confidence I have in the Bears’ defense. If they can shut down Murray like they have done with so many other point guards this season, we could be in for a low-scoring game.

Final score prediction: Bears 21, Cardinals 16

Rates are updated periodically and may change.

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