Looking to avoid an 0-2 start to the season, Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers will stay at home this week to host the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field on Thursday Night Football. The Packers haven't had much problem beating the Bears lately, and they'll be hoping that trend continues on Thursday as they try to make up for their season-opening home loss to the San Francisco 49ers on the weekend. Kickoff for Thursday is 8:20pm ET.
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Packers fall short in opener against the Niners
Week 1's matchup between the Niners and Packers in Green Bay was considered a possible NFC Championship Game preview, and if that turns out to be true the Packers could be in big trouble in January. Green Bay was favored by 6 points at home against San Francisco, but the Niners paid off as the road underdog with a 30-22 victory. The Packers put up a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to make it closer and produce an OVER result.
Rodgers was solid in his first game of the season for Green Bay, completing 30 of his 44 pass attempts for 303 yards with two touchdown strikes and one interception; that resulted in a rating of 93.3 for the quarterback. Rodgers also rushed for 27 yards on five carries in the losing cause – and that led the Green Bay backfield as Cedric Benson only managed to pick up 18 rushing yards on nine carries. James Jones had four catches for 81 yards and a touchdown that night, with Jermichael Finley making seven catches for 47 yards and a TD.
Bears coming off a home victory over the Colts
The Bears got to be Andrew Luck's first regular-season NFL opponent in Week 1, and they didn't have much trouble with the Indianapolis Colts in a 41-21 victory as a big 10-point home favorite on the NFL odds at Bovada. Chicago's output alone almost made that game an OVER result for totals bettors; the OVER/UNDER for the day was listed at 41.5 points.
Bears QB Jay Cutler went 21 of 35 for 333 yards through the air for his team in that win, throwing two touchdown passes and getting intercepted once en route to a rating of 98.9 – while Chicago's defense held Luck to a QB Rating of just 52.9 and picked him off three times. Michael Bush ran for two scores for the Bears in the win, and Matt Forte rushed for 80 yards on 16 carries and found the end zone once. Brandon Marshall had nine catches for 119 yards and a touchdown on the day, with Alshon Jeffery hauling in the other TD pass.
Packers unbeaten against the Bears since 2010
Green Bay has been able to pile up wins – both straight up and against the spread – versus the division-rival Bears over the past five years, going 7-3 SU and also 7-3 ATS through their last 10 clashes on the gridiron; that includes Green Bay's current 4-0 SU and 3-1 ATS run against Chicago. Totals bettors got an OVER result in the last Packers/Bears matchup last December, but prior to that the teams had battled to eight straight UNDER results.
On the NFL lines at Bovada the Packers opened as 6-point home favorites for Thursday night. In that contest last December the Packers managed to cover a 13-point spread at home in a 35-21 win over the Bears, and last September Green Bay won 27-17 in Chicago and covered a 4.5-point spread. Chicago last beat Green Bay back in September 2010.
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