On Sunday, the Chicago Bears head out on the road to Baltimore, Maryland, to take on the Ravens. The Bears began the Trubisky era with a thud and look to rebound this week. The Ravens are coming off a dominating win last week and look to keep the good times rollin’. Kickoff inside M&T Bank Stadium is at 1 PM ET.
The Bears (1-4) lost a tough divisional game last Monday night to the Minnesota Vikings. The debut of Trubisky didn’t go as well as many had hoped. In the end, he threw a costly interception that led to the loss. Trubisky will have a tough challenge against the Ravens this week as he leads the Bears into a hostile environment. Chicago is 0-2 on the road this season with losses at Green Bay and Tampa Bay. The Bears were outscored 64-21 in these two games.
Baltimore (3-2) appeared to get their mojo back as they throttled the Raiders in Oakland last weekend 30-17. The Ravens had the lead from the beginning of the game and kept it all 4 quarters. Baltimore’s offense found their passing attack and it looked like quarterback Joe Flacco found his arm again. The Ravens will look to make it two games in a row this week.
The spread opened at -6.5 points for the Ravens and it has remained unchanged. The Over/Under opened at 40 points and has come down to 39.5 total points.
The Ravens appeared to find their offense again. This is a good thing for a team that is averaging only 18 points per game. They put up their highest offensive output last weekend at 30 points. Flacco appeared rejuvenated and the passing game was no longer on the back of a milk carton.
Although Flacco only threw for 222 passing yards against the Raiders, it was how he got those yards. Flacco completed several long throws to Mike Wallace that opened up the field for their underneath throws and the run game. Baltimore finished with 365 total yards on the day.
Defensively, the Ravens played much better than the previous two games as they held the Raiders to just 17 points at home. Baltimore forced 1 turnover and kept the Raiders to 245 total yards on the day. Yes, Oakland started backup QB EJ Manuel during the game, but that’s exactly why I think they will have a similar performance against rookie QB Mitch Trubisky this week.
Chicago is only averaging 15 points per game. In Trubisky’s first start, the Bears scored 17 points. Defenses are loading the box against the Bears and forcing them to throw. As of now, it has been very difficult as the Bears passing attack only averages 199 yards per game. This week, they will be lucky to hit that number against the aggressive Ravens defense.
In the first two weeks of the season, Baltimore only gave up 10 points. The following 2 weeks, they were blown out and gave up 70 total points in comparison to just 16 points scored. The win over Oakland hopefully signals that the Ravens are back on track and ready to play solid football on both sides of the ball.
I expect Baltimore to get after Trubisky this weekend as they stop the run and force the rookie to try and beat them. The Ravens are only allowing 217 passing yards per game, and I don’t see the Bears surpassing that number on the road this weekend. Baltimore will confuse Trubisky with their various blitz packages and I expect Mitch to struggle mightily.
Chicago is 2-8 ATS in their last 10 road games and 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games against the Ravens. Baltimore is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games at home.
Look for the Ravens to control this game from beginning to end. The Ravens will get on the board early and play with a lead for 4 quarters. I expect the Ravens defense to force turnovers and shut down the Bears running backs Howard and Cohen. Flacco will hit some timely passes on a Bears defense that gives up 223 passing yards per game. The Bears are stingy against the run so, I expect Ravens running back Buck Allen to be an effective weapon in the short passing game. Ravens win this one 24-10.