Need a little NFL Preseason for the weekend action to pad your betting bankroll? We got you covered! Our betting preview focuses on Saturday's matchup between the Chicago Bears and Buffalo Bills.
Brett Rypien threw 3 touchdowns to lead "Da Bears" to a weather-shortened 21-17 victory over the Texans in the Hall of Fame Game last week. Will the former Boise State star show out once again on August 10th? This will be Buffalo's first preseason game of the year, so it'll be interesting to see what their gameplan will be.
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The Chicago Bears are a slight road favorite over the Buffalo Bills, as online sportsbooks are pricing Chicago at either a 1 or 1.5-point favorite. This is probably due to the fact that teams typically perform better in their second preseason game.
As for the total, it's currently being priced in the 37.5-to-38-point range. As always, shop around for the best price before placing your wagers.
Former Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams is expected to make his NFL debut for Chicago on Saturday night. While Bears fans are understandably pumped to see their No. 1 overall pick in action, Williams will probably only get a series or two of action. The Bears have some injury issues with their starting offensive linemen, so they'll be very cautious with Williams.
Tyson Bagent and Brett Rypien should once again get some high-quality reps in this contest. As we talked about above, Rypien looked fantastic last week in the Hall of Fame Game. Because of that, Bagent may get a little more practice in this one.
Once the fourth quarter rolls around, it wouldn't surprise me to see undrafted rookie Austin Reed under center. He did quite well at Western Kentucky, but you got to think he'll have a ton of butterflies in his first bit of NFL action.
Since this is Buffalo's first preseason game, I highly doubt that Josh Allen will get any snaps. However, that shouldn't worry Bills fans in the least.
Mitchell Trubisky has a boatload of NFL experience and he's a solid option as the backup QB for Sean McDermott's squad. Trubisky has thrown for over 12,000 yards in his NFL career and has also tossed 72 touchdowns. He can also make plays with his feet, which is highly important in exhibition games.
Shane Buechele will be the one driving the bus for Buffalo in the latter stages of this game. The former SMU star won a Super Bowl ring in Kansas City but has yet to play in a regular season game. That being said, Buechele has been in Buffalo for a full year and should be able to make some plays in this offense.
I'm not a big trends guy, but there are a ton of them in Buffalo's favor in this spot. Since 2019, the Bills have won 11 of their 13 preseason games outright. That figure alone makes me wonder why they're getting points, especially at home.
I get that home field advantage is minimal during exhibition games, but Buffalo is a perfect 6-0 against the spread at home over the last 5 years in August. That's another trend we can hang our hat on.
Lastly, I think the Bills QB combo of Mitch Trubisky and Shane Buechele should do just fine against the Bears third and fourth string defenses. Grab the +1.5 with Buffalo over at FanDuel or BetMGM while you can.