NFL Chicago Bears

With emotions running high on both sides of the ball, one team (Florida) will benefit greatly. The other will suffer an embarrassing loss on New Year’s Day. Cincinnati is playing without former head coach Brian Kelly, who led the Bearcats to significant success in recent years

We hate to say I told you so, but I told you that the Vikings were overrated all year, and I think after a second embarrassing loss on national TV, I proved my point. Favre is done, was done 4 years ago, and as far as fighting with the coach about coming out of the game, that’s B.S

The Packers looked really good on Monday night in beating the Ravens while the Bears finally won a game against the Rams. We wish we knew what the line is here, but since the Packers played Monday night and I write my column on Tuesday morning there was no line available at the time

The Bears let us down last week. They looked like they were going to win that game against the Eagles, but a late touchdown cost them the game, and probably their season. Jay Cutler looks like a defeated man. He came into town as the saviour

Virginia coach Al Groh has beaten the Cavaliers’ arch rival Hokies just one time in his nine years at UVA. He and the Cavaliers look to make that number two and possibly avoid his firing this Saturday in Charlottesville. The Hokies are in a down year at 8-3 and will not contend for the ACC Championship,

Not quite the same allure as the Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma, but this week’s Bedlam Rivalry game is Oklahoma State’s Super Bowl. The Cowboys have had a tremendous season so far and Oklahoma is sitting at 6-5, ensured of its worst season since 1999

Boise State doesn’t play too many home games where they are only 14 point favorites, but that is exactly what they are this week when Nevada comes to play on the blue turf. Boise State needs a win this week, and badly. Though the Broncos are 11-0, their only hope for a BCS appearance

Despite an 11-0 record up to this point, Alabama still realistically needs to win its next two games to get into the National Championship. With Florida a perfect 11-0 as well, the Crimson Tide will need to beat Auburn this week and Florida in the SEC Championship

At first glance you might think that it was quite a shocker that Oakland beat Cincinnati last week, but at we said the Bengals were coming off their biggest win in years and might be flat. We also felt that Jamarcus Russell was hindering the Raider offense and the switch to anybody but he was the correct move

Both of these teams are in big trouble, with Chicago maybe in a little more. Jay Cutler threw 5 interceptions last week. These teams seems to meet every year, and the game always comes down to the wire. This year will be no different.

Another good week, as we went 6-3 on our picks and hit our 3 team teaser bet. We are going to start out the week by picking part one of our 3 team 10 point teaser. Both the Bears and Niners haven’t been playing too well as of late and need a win badly

We went 4-2 on our picks last week, plus we suggested that if you must bet the Jet-Dolphin game, take Miami on the money line, which made us some extra cash. We are going back to the conventional 10 point teaser this week. Arizona played like crap vs Carolina

This is the toughest time of the year to make money as a contrarian sports bettor. Early in the year there are many juicy upsets, later in the year it starts to make sense again, during the bowl season and late in the NFL season. At this time of the year, the good teams seem to win by large margins over the bad teams that have given up. That is not our betting style.

We are going to be able to retire thanks to our Bengal picks this year. We have been betting them all year and they have been covering and even winning outright as a dog. Last week we felt they would be ripe for an upset

What got into the Falcons last week? We thought that they were a good team, but they had 2 weeks to prepare for last weeks game at San Francisco and demolished a good 49ers team.

We picked Detroit to win their first game since Christmas of 2007 last week and they did. They acted like they won the Superbowl after the game. We had Chicago last week going up to Seattle and wining a close one and they did.

Both of these teams have problems. Miami really can’t play offense at the N.F.L. level. They look like a college or high school team at times, with their “Wildcat” offense and their quarterback who throws the ball like a shot put. Another quarterback, who has a funky delivery is Phillip Rivers

The next 2 games that we are picking, we are going a little bit out on a limb. There are 2 home dogs that both played very well last week as huge underdogs. Both teams had opportunities to win outright but didn’t.

The Bears showed what they are made of last week, by beating the Steelers as we said they must. Seattle is in big trouble with the possible loss of Matt Hasselbeck with cracked ribs.

This game scares me, not only as a Giant fan but as a bettor. This is a trap game for the Giants. After 2 huge wins against division rivals, Dallas and Washington, they now play 3 games in a row versus bad teams

There were some tough losses last weeks for teams, but none tougher for bettors than the people that had Chicago +5. Chicago was up by 2 points with Green Bay driving for a possible winning field goal.

The opening Sunday night game is a great one. The Bears are for real. Usually what happens in the preseason really doesn’t matter, but in this case Cutler looked very comfortable with his new team.

Despite a 7-9 record last year (7-9 AGAINST THE SPREAD), the Buffalo Bills actually have reason to be optimistic heading into the 2009 season

Probably the most well known handicapping angle is the “Monday Night Home Underdog.”

Stop thinking about rain by itself as a bad weather indicator. Look at the mix of wind, turf quality, and precipitation. It's the mix that matters, not one third of the mix.

Bettors no longer have to look at mere sides and/or game totals to strike it rich as mostly all the online sports books (and many Las Vegas) outlets provide first and second half wagering lines along with quarter by quarter prices too on football betting.