Three teams that won their Week 1 openers are big underdogs in Week 2 of the NFL season. Here’s a look at the Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals and New York Jets – all with a ton of momentum and a handful of points.
Chicago Bears (+6 at Green Bay)
To a man, books and oddsmakers will tell anyone who wants to listen that it’s all about matchups.
What happened last week is considered a little, what happened two weeks ago is hardly relevant, and what happened before that has all the importance of the Peloponnesian War.
So Chicago’s easy 20-point victory over the Colts last week didn’t much impress oddsmakers, who have made the Packers 6-point favorites this coming Thursday at Lambeau Field.
The line seems a bit high, especially considering that the Packers hardly looked Super Bowl ready against the Niners, stumbling around for three quarters before a late score made the 30-22 final respectable.
The NHL used to call these type of a division matchups 4-point games (at least until overtime complicated things), but the first NFC North game of the year could at least give an indication of how things might shake down until the inevitable injuries muddy the waters.
One more interesting item to consider: The total for that game is a fat 50.5 - a number which would make Dick Butkus and Ray Nitschke throw up in their mouths.
Arizona Cardinals (+13.5 at New England)
The NFL schedule rotation has the NFC West playing the AFC East this year, and it’s the Cardinals’ bum luck that they catch the Patriots in Foxboro and not in the dessert.
Arizona is coming off a nice division win against Seattle at home, but is staring down the barrel of a 13.5-point line in Foxboro. Tom Brady and the Patriots have been a solid cover team in early-season home games over the past three years, so the line makes sense.
The Cards had turned the page at QB, moving away from Kevin Kolb and handing things over to John Skelton. But Skelton’s ankle injury shelves that plan for a few weeks.
New York Jets (+6 at Pittsburgh)
Like the Cardinals, the Jets are patting themselves on the backs after winning on opening day. And, like the Cardinals, they more than have their hands full at Pittsburgh in Week 2.
It’s dangerous to judge anyone on their worst days and the Steelers looked disheveled on both sides of the ball against the Broncos. They can’t be that bad at home against the Jets (Steelers -6). Can they?
As for the Jets, it’s been two full days since the victory over Buffalo and Rex Ryan hasn’t predicted a Super Bowl title for this year.