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Chicago Bears vs. Washington Redskins Expert Picks for Monday Night Football


by - 9/18/2019

Chicago Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky

We try to get you these stories as early in the week as possible for obvious reasons. Sometimes that can backfire. For example, for the Monday night Browns-Jets game in Week 2, we sent our picks in - Browns -2.5 and "over" the total of 45 - before learning that Jets quarterback Sam Darnold was going to miss the game with mono. Yes, adults can get that. Now, that spread shot up the Browns to -6.5 with Trevor Siemian under center for the Jets. Still would have recommended giving the points but for sure would have switched our pick to "under," which dropped a few points. Then we would have swept our picks but as it stands went 1-1 again with Cleveland winning 23-3.

This week, I highly doubt there are many points as the Chicago Bears visit the Washington Redskins. Can't tell you why the Redskins are on MNF this year as they stink and are flat-out uninteresting at least until the coaching staff inserts rookie first-round pick Dwayne Haskins at quarterback for veteran Case Keenum. Hey, the division-rival Giants already have made a change with their first-round rookie QB. Seriously, can you name me five Redskins?

The Bears are one of the most popular teams in the NFL even when they stink, so they are MNF darlings. They always draw big ratings. I'd be willing to bet that around 60 percent of FedEx Field is filled with Bears fans on Monday as well. Redskins fans are tired of their team being the same every year and continue to beg Dan Snyder to sell. Sorry, that's not going to happen. Being one of 32 NFL owners is too big of an ego trip for Snyder.

Bears at Redskins Betting Story Lines

No real surprise that Washington is 0-2, and I frankly don't know why Snyder hasn't instructed his front office to change from Keenum to Haskins to at least get some buzz around his once-marquee franchise. It's not that Keenum has been awful, as he has completed 69.1 percent of his passes for 601 yards and five touchdowns with no picks. That rating of 111.2 is eighth in the NFL. The problem is Keenum has no ceiling; hey, why not call the Pittsburgh Steelers or New Orleans Saints (as a backup there) or Carolina Panthers and try and get something in trade for the veteran Keenum with those teams all having quarterback injury problems?

This could be the last Monday night game for future Hall of Fame running back Adrian Peterson of the Redskins. In Week 1, he was embarrassingly inactive because the team wanted to look at young Derrius Guice. Well, Guice got hurt, so Peterson was in there for last week's 31-21 home loss to Dallas. He rushed for only 25 yards on 10 carries - he's shot - but did have a touchdown. It was Peterson's 107th career rushing score, passing Jim Brown for the fifth-most rushing touchdowns in NFL history. Next up at No. 4 is Walter Payton with 110. One major bright spot so far for Washington has been rookie WR Terry McLaurin. The third-round pick out of Ohio State has 10 catches for 187 yards and two scores.

Chicago is incredibly fortunate to not be 0-2. The Bears were the beneficiaries of a late bogus roughing-the-passer penalty in Denver last week and then somehow got the referees to stop the clock with one second left on a play that started with nine seconds to go and seemed to take at least 11 seconds. The good news is that Chicago seems to have solved its kicking problems as Eddy "Dinero" Pineiro hit a 53-yard field goal at the gun for a shocking 16-14 victory. The Bears players were celebrating like school girls they were so happy to have found a reliable kicker.

The Windy City denizens already have had about enough of QB Mitchell Trubisky, though. While many thought he would take a huge jump forward in Year 3, he has gotten worse. Trubisky has completed just 58.3 percent of his passes for 348 yards with no TDs and one pick. His 65.0 rating is better than only that of Ryan Fitzpatrick, and his 4.8 yards per attempt is easily the worst in the league. It's not all on him - Matt Nagy has not been creative at all in his play-calling. But remember that the Bears passed on both Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes in the 2017 NFL Draft to trade up and take Trubisky No. 2 overall. Oops!

Bears at Redskins Betting Odds and Trends

At 5Dimes, Chicago is a 4-point favorite (-110) with a total of 41.5. On the moneyline, the Bears are -200 and Redskins +170. On the current alternate lines, Chicago is -4.5 (-102), -3.5 (-117) and -3 (-145). The Bears are 0-1 against the spread on the road and 0-1 "over/under." The Redskins are 0-1 ATS at home and 1-0 O/U.

Chicago is 4-1 ATS in its past five on Monday and 7-2 ATS in its previous nine after a win. Washington is 7-21 ATS in its past 28 on Monday and 2-5 ATS in its past six after a loss. The under has hit in seven straight Bears games. It's 6-1 in the Redskins past seven after allowing more than 30 points in the last game. The road team is 7-2 ATS in the past nine in the series.

 

Bears at Redskins Betting Prediction

 

First meeting since Christmas Eve 2016 when the Bears were terrible and the Redskins were meh. Washington rolled 45-21 to win its seventh straight in the series - that's the Redskins' longest active winning streak against any opponent. I absolutely love the under here with two shaky offenses, but we will roll with Chicago ATS simply as it has a Super Bowl-caliber defense. I'll be waiting to give 2.5 points, however.

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