The second of the three Super Wildcard Sunday matches in the NFL playoffs sees the winners of the NFC South in action as the number two seeds in the NFC, New Orleans Saints, host the seventh seeded Chicago Bears for the right to play next week.
The Saints go into this match knowing if they win they will host their NFC South rivals Tampa Bay Buccaneers next week while the Chicago Bears are playing for the right to travel to their NFC North rivals Green Bay Packers next weekend.
New Orleans Saints
When the season started there were many judges who thought that the days of the New Orleans Saints being on top of the NFC South were numbered but the Saints didn’t get that script and proceeded to not only push on and win the division but were only a win away from landing the number one seed in the Conference. You could argue that they have looked more threatening in other seasons but nobody can dispute how good they have been.
Injuries had threatened to disrupt the season for the Saints but they overcame those issues in the main and with key personnel back for this match they go into the postseason confident that they can launch a big Super Bowl run. Their offense looks to be ready to click into full gear and there is an underrated element to their defence so if everything continues to tick into place they shouldn’t just win this match but could go a long way.
Special Offer
Opt in and place 5 accumulators either in a Boylesports shop or online and get an acca free! Click the image below to bet. ALL CUSTOMERS! 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears only knew they were in the playoffs after the final match of the season. Their loss to the Green Bay Packers had opened the door for the Arizona Cardinals to pip them at the death but the Cardinals couldn’t overcome the Rams and the Soldier Field outfit live to fight another day. You could argue that they are playing with the house money as a result of that, and there is a truth element to that, but at the same time the big question is whether they are good enough to be competitive here.
To their credit they were on a three match winning run prior to the trip to Lambeau Field last week which suggests they are capable. The offense has had question marks over it all season and the changing around of the quarterback highlights how unsettled they are on that side of the ball. In a way they can afford to keep searching for the right balance because their defence has generally been one of the better ones this season.
Betting
I think the New Orleans Saints will win this match. I’d be very surprised if they didn’t but they haven’t been convincing in the playoffs recently and there is the slight doubt that those heartaches might linger in them mentally so I’m certainly in no rush to back the hosts to cover a double digit spread here. That said I don’t really want to be anywhere near the Chicago Bears to do anything either so I’ll head for the point markets for a bet in this one.
The bet I like here is under 48.5pts. As I just highlighted, the Saints haven’t played their best stuff in the postseason for the last couple of years and if that happens again here their point scoring could suffer, not that they are going to easily rack up the points against this Chicago defence anyway. On the other side of things I’m not convinced the Bears have it in offense to run up the score so in what should be a fairly comfortable Saints win, I’ll take the under 48.5pts.
Tips
WON – Back Under 48.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
Back it here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2021
