The Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears have already met up twice this season, with the home team winning both tussles by relatively close margins. The visitors are really viewed as the hottest commodity in the game right now on the NFL odds, and the NFC Championship Game lines reflect just that.
Which way will this three point spread in favor of the Pack go? We have all of the answers here at BetVega.
Betting Key #1: James Starks has been a hero so far in the playoffs, but can he keep it going against the Bears?
Absolutely not. There is a reason that the Bears held teams to just 90.1 yards per game on the ground, which was the best mark in the conference by a country mile this year. Starks has been great, rushing for 189 yards on 48 carries in the two wins leading up to this point, but Chicago is coming off of a game in which it allowed just 34 yards to the Seattle Seahawks. To make matters worse for the Packers, they only averaged 61.5 yards per game this year in two games against the Bears on the ground. Things aren’t getting any better come Sunday.
Packers vs. Bears 2011 NFC Championship Game Betting:
- Bears vs. Packers Point Spread: Packers -3.5 points
- Bears vs. Packers Over-Under: 44 points
- Bears vs. Packers Expert Picks: CLICK HERE
- Bears vs. Packers Player Prop Bets: CLICK HERE
Betting Key #2: The Packers got to Matt Ryan on Sunday, but are they going to be able to get to Jay Cutler?
If they do, the Bears are in some deep, deep trouble, because we have no confidence that Cutler is hanging onto the football against this secondary if he is constantly under pressure. The bad news for the former Vandy Commodore is that he was sacked a whopping 52 times this year in just 15 games played, an average of nearly 3.5 times per game. If a Green Bay defense which ranked No. 2 in the league in INTs has its chance of Cutler throwing some ducks thanks to pressure, this one is likely going to be over with before it even gets started.
Betting Key #3: Is Aaron Rodgers really this good?
You’d better believe it. Rodgers has thrown for 546 yards and has six TDs with no picks thus far in the playoffs, and if you go back to a Week 9 win against the Dallas Cowboys, he is averaging 301.4 passing yards per game and has a TD/INT ratio of 22/2. He had four different receivers have at least 75 yards on Sunday against the Falcons as well. Chicago’s defense had one good game and one bad game against Rodgers and company, and it really needs to make sure that its No. 20 ranked pass defense at least keeps the young buck from Cal contained.
We’re so tired of hearing about all of the things that the Bears can’t do and that they don’t deserve to be in this game. You don’t win a division with 12 wins (including the playoffs) by accident in this league. Chicago certainly deserves to be in this spot as it got the job done regardless of how many lucky horseshoes Lovie Smith has in his back pocket. That said; Green Bay is simply the better overall team evidenced by it going into both Philadelphia and Atlanta and winning outright as short underdogs. Chicago was the beneficiary of having everything fall into place this season, but this will be their stiffest test to date, and they won’t come out of it alive when it matters most.
Green Bay 20 – Chicago 13
