Thursday night preseason football and we the Jacksonville Jaguars travel to Soldier Field to take on the Chicago Bears. The game has a start time of 8:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN. Current Vegas odds have the Bears listed as 3.5 point favorites, while the total is set at 42.5.
Analysis: The Jacksonville Jags started their preseason with a 16-10 win over Tampa Bay. This game didn't feature a whole lot of offense for the Jags, which will be a recurring theme for them all year. In the game vs Tampa Bay, Jacksonville put up just 264 yards, including just 173 through the air. Blake Bortles got most of the reps in the game and completed 7-11 pass for 117 yards, while Chad Henne played sparingly and completed 4 of 7 passes for 30 yards. Despite the fact that Blake had a solid outing, Gus Bradley states that it will still be Henne that begins the season as the starter. This week it is expected that Henne will play the first half, while Bortles will play the 2nd half. The defense for the jags looked good, allowing just 259 yards in the game and it is their defense that will be called upon to carry them through most of this year.
Marc Trestman's first year in Chicago was mediocre at best as he went just 8-8 on the year. This year's team looks a whole lot better and anything less than a playoff berth would be very disappointing for the fans of Chicago. The Bears won a thrilling 34-28 game over Philadelphia in their first preseason game of the season. The Bears piled up 491 yards, including 399 yards through the air, and Cutler played sparingly in that game. he did have 85 yards passing and a TD in the game, while Jimmy Claussen threw for 150 yards and 2 TDs and Jordan Palmer had a nice showing as well, tossing for 104 yards and a TD. Cutler and the rest of the starters probably won't play all that much in this one. The defense struggled vs the Eagles as they allowed 283 yards threw the air and 359 yards total. Defense was an issue for this team and they hope to have a better showing in this one vs a much more pedestrian Jacksonville attack.
Pick: Yes we will be going with the Under in this one. The Bears game last week put up a ton of points, but they also played vs a Philadelphia team that played at a high tempo pace. That won't happen here. The Jags are a team that will not win many games with their offense and they certainly won't win with their passing game. This is a team with very little scoring punch and will need to shorten games if they have any hope of winning them. That means they have to run the ball and then rely on a very improved defense. I know this is preseason and games are played a bit differently, but still preseason or not the Jags will still have problems scoring this year no matter when they play. The Bears last week got solid work from their passing game, so i do expect them to work a bit more on their running game in this one and if they do attempt to throw then they will be facing a better secondary than that of the Eagles. The Bears have gone over in their last 4 week 2 preseason games, but this is vs a team that will not play in many games in the 40, whether it's preseason or regular season.
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NFL Free Picks: Jacksonville Jaguars vs Chicago Bears (Total)
What pro football bettors need to know about betting Jacksonville Jaguars vs Chicago Bears on Thursday (8/14/14) - a free pick from Pregame.com's Chuck Edel with added insight from Ken Thomson.