Thursday Night Football picks and live discussion: Bears at Commanders

Tonight’s Thursday Night Football game features one of our NFC East brethren, and a team that is at the bottom of the NFL. The Bears visit the Commanders tonight, and while it may not be the most scintillating of games, it is NFL football.

DraftKings Sportsbook has the Commanders as six-point favorites over the Bears.

This is an open thread for game chat.

Below some of the BTB staff made game picks using Tallysight. Check them out and the explanation for the picks.

Dave Halprin: The Commanders are a mediocre football team. The Bears are a terrible football team. The Commanders are at home so take them to win and cover. Sometimes football is pretty simple.

Tom Ryle: Man, the Amazon people must be so thrilled about this mess. Neither team is that good, but the Commanders have at least proven they can win games against bad teams. Until the Bears do so, I’m not going to believe it. I figure the game may actually be close, but that doesn’t mean it will be entertaining, unless you like seeing who can make the most mistakes. Give me our division rivals by six.

OCC: Chicago’s defense is an atrocity (ranked 31st in DVOA), but Washington isn’t much better, having given up 30+ points in each of their last three games. Can either offense capitalize on this? Unlikely. Both offenses average a negative EPA per play, with the Bears a bit worse (-0.117) than the Commanders (-0.043). In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, so I’m going with the home team Commanders here.

RJ Ochoa: This game looks so bad on paper and I am certain that it will make me like football less. Still though I will watch it and when I do I expect the Commanders to be the more competent group. What a time we are living in where this is the case. I’ll take Washington along the lines of 22-10.

David Howman: This feels pretty simple. The Commanders are an okay football team, having beaten two bad teams already this year and almost beating the Eagles. The Bears are a very bad team, and they’re going on the road on a short week. I’ll take the Commanders 28-17.

Brian Martin: I’ve got my fingers crossed for an upset, but unfortunately I just don’t think the Chicago Bears can put enough points on the board to hang with the Washington Commanders, a team who narrowly lost to the Philadelphia Eagles last week in overtime. Washington is simply the better team right now, although the margin between the two is slim. Give me the Commanders by 10.

Matt Holleran: For the first time this year we’ve got a bit of a stinker on Thursday night. The Bears, fresh off blowing a 21-point lead to the Denver Broncos, are a complete mess. The Commanders haven’t been as bad to start the year, but they have their fair share of issues. Chicago’s defense is arguably the worst in football, so the Commanders should be able to move the ball. Justin Fields played very well against Denver last Sunday, but I don’t see him and Chicago’s offense being able to put up enough points to offset their awful defense. Give me the Commanders.