Cleveland Browns vs. Chicago Bears Preview
Where: Soldier Field, Chicago
When: Thursday, August 31, 2017, 8:00 PM ET
Line: Cleveland Browns (+3.5) vs. Chicago Bears (-3.5); total: 36.0 – view all NFL lines
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Betting on the Cleveland Browns (3-0)
The Cleveland Browns continued their strong start to the preseason with a narrow 13-9 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday night. All eyes were on DeShone Kizer as he made his first-ever start for the Browns. He struggled mightily against the Bucs, completing just 6-of-18 passes for 93 yards and an interception. Kizer didn’t throw a touchdown pass in one half of play. Head coach Hue Jackson was still all praises, however, for his rookie quarterback, saying “Kizer did not fall flat on his face and did some things better than expected.”
In fact, Jackson has decided to install Kizer as his team’s starting QB for the upcoming season. That means Kevin Hogan and Cody Kessler will get the bulk of the playing time in the preseason finale against the Bears. Kessler played the third quarter at quarterback against the Bucs, completing 6-of-10 passes for 48 yards. Hogan played the fourth for the Browns in that encounter, nailing the game-winning five-yard TD pass to Jordan Leslie with 1:53 left.
Betting on the Chicago Bears (2-1)
The Chicago Bears extended their winning streak to two games with an impressive 19-7 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. Mike Glennon bolstered his case to be the Bears’ starting quarterback, completing 11 of 18 passes for 134 yards and a score. He capped an opening 96-yard drive with a 1-yard TD pass to Dion Sims.
The victory came at a huge price for the Bears, though, as Cameron Meredith was carted off with a left ACL injury. That’s a bitter blow for the Bears as Meredith was primed for a 1,000-yard season. Meredith had a breakout campaign last year, catching 66 passes for 888 yards. The pressure now is on Markus Wheaton, Victor Cruz and Kendall Wright to carry the scoring cudgels in Meredith’s absence.
With injuries plaguing the Bears as we speak, it will be interesting to see who will line up for Chicago in the preseason finale against Cleveland. One guy who’s definitely starting this coming Thursday is rookie Mitch Trubisky. Although highly doubtful, a strong performance against the Browns might net Trubisky the starting quarterback gig.
He finished 10 of 15 for 128 yards in the win against the Titans with a passer rating of 115.4. Trubisky’s 354 passing yards, 70.8 completion percentage, three touchdowns and 112.7 passer rating have dwarfed Glennon’s statistics this preseason. He will have his work cut out for him, however, against a Cleveland defense that’s allowing just 9.7 points per game this preseason.
Writer’s Prediction
Chicago (-3.5) not only wins but also covers the spread against Cleveland.
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