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Morning Coffee: A FanDuel Best Bet for Thursday Night Football
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The Chicago Bears will not make the playoffs once again. Still, they have a lot left to play for the rest of the season.
It starts tonight with a must-win game against the Carolina Panthers on Thursday Night Football.
The Bears own Carolina’s 2024 first-round pick, which they acquired in the blockbuster trade that allowed the Panthers to move up eight spots to select quarterback Bryce Young first overall in the 2023 draft.
Carolina enters Week 10 with the worst record in the league at 1-7.
If the Panthers finish 32nd out of 32 NFL teams in the regular-season standings, Chicago will end up on the clock with the first-overall pick in the 2024 draft.
Bears GM Ryan Poles has a lot of work left to do as he attempts to turn around a franchise that hasn’t made it past the wild-card round in more than a decade.
The franchise could take a major step in the right direction with a victory against Carolina tonight.
This is the Morning Coffee for Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023.
Bears brace for must-win game versus Panthers
When Poles took over as the Bears GM in 2022, he understood that turning the franchise around was a significant long-term project.
If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have traded star linebacker Khalil Mack just a couple of months into the job. He also wouldn’t have traded away veteran linebacker Roquan Smith the following year.
Poles was always intent on rebuilding the roster.
With eight games remaining in the regular season, there are three important criteria that Poles is focused on.
First, he has to evaluate who he wants to retain and build around from his current roster.
Most importantly, he needs to decide what he wants to do at the quarterback position.
Justin Fields is not expected to play tonight. Undrafted rookie Tyson Bagent will start for Chicago.
Poles wants to rebuild the roster in his mould and how he addresses the quarterback position will be the most important decision that he makes.
Second, Poles needs to evaluate the coaching staff. It won’t just be about whether they can execute his vision in terms of X’s and O’s, either.
The Bears have already fired running backs coach David Walker. Defensive coordinator Alan Williams resigned earlier in the season.
All successful organizations have strong leadership groups in place. It always starts at the top.
Third, the long-term success of the franchise could hinge largely on its short-term failures, with one notable exception.
Chicago must win tonight.
The Bears are currently the fourth choice to finish with the NFL’s worst record at +550 odds.
The Panthers are currently the second choice in that market at +280 odds. Chicago owns Carolina’s 2024 first-round pick.
The more that both teams struggle this season, the better shot that the Bears have to land the top pick in the 2024 draft.
At the same time, a win over the Panthers tonight would push Carolina one loss closer to finishing in the NFL basement, which would allow Chicago to move one step closer to attaining that coveted first-overall pick.
Once the night is over, the Bears can turn their attention to the future.
First, they need to take care of business and secure a crucial win over the Panthers on Thursday Night Football.
A FanDuel Best Bet for Thursday Night Football
The Bears opened -1.5 for tonight’s game at FanDuel.
That number was bet all the way up to -3.5, before settling at -3 with Chicago money line and Chicago against the spread among the most popular bets for tonight’s game at FanDuel.
Meanwhile, the total has dropped from 41.5 to 38.5. The under is on an 11-1 run over the past 12 NFL prime-time games dating back to Week 6.
For my FanDuel Best Bet, I’m turning back the clock and looking for redemption with a player that broke my heart a few weeks back.
Back in Week 5, I placed a wager on Darnell Mooney 25+ receiving yards. He finished with zero catches on four targets.
Since then, Mooney has registered 32 or more receiving yards in four straight games, including a season-high 82 receiving yards on five catches in last week’s loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Bagent has been the starting quarterback for the Bears in each of those four games.
Mooney has three or more targets in all of them, including six targets in last week’s loss to the Saints.
There will be a lot of talk about potential revenge games for D.J. Moore and D’Onta Foreman, and I might have some action on both players for tonight’s card.