The Christmas action in the NFL 2024 season continues on Boxing night when the Thursday Night Football for Week 17 sees the Chicago Bears playing host to the Seattle Seahawks in a clash which is much bigger for the visitors than the hosts.
The Seattle Seahawks have been overtaken in the NFC West but a win here guarantees a winner takes all showdown with the Rams next week. The Bears’ season has been over for a while now and they are looking to spoil the Seattle party.
Chicago Bears
There was a lot of optimism around the Chicago Bears going into the season when they had the number one draft pick and took Caleb Williams who was expected to lead them to much better things. That initially looked like it might be the case but the longer the campaign has gone on the more the Bears have reverted to type. At one stage this year, the Bears were 4-2 for the campaign but nine losses on the trot have seen a promising start turned into a terrible season.
The problem in recent times has been that the Chicago defence has given up too many points. In four of their last five matches they have shipped 30 points or more and even in this league you are asking for trouble when you concede that many points. This will be the last home game of the season for the Bears so there will be an intent to send their supporters home happy and all players find the pride to show up on primetime but they need to be better than they’ve been for months to win this.
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Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks had been looking in a good place in terms of winning the NFC West for much of the season but they have hit the skids at the wrong time and allowed the Los Angeles Rams the chance to get in front of them. They are only a game behind though and the two conclude the season against each other next week so a win here will ensure that Seattle are in control of their own destiny going into the final game and that is generally a position any team will take.
To be fair to Seattle, while they have lost their last two matches at the wrong time, they were to the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings who are two of the best teams in the NFC so we shouldn’t be too harsh on them. They look to have a good chance to get back to winning ways here. They will be looking for their defence to come back to the party, particularly going into a key part of the season and if that happens they have enough on offense to get the job done.
Betting
I’m with the Seattle Seahawks here. These two teams look to be going in completely opposite directions at the minute. That might sound weird given that Seattle have lost their last two matches but they have lost them to two of the better sides in the NFC and there isn’t much in the way of evidence that Chicago Bears are one of those. The Bears are just playing out their season and while winning a final home game of the year and being on primetime could be used as motivation, it isn’t enough to sway me into backing them.
Seattle Seahawks have a vibrant offense which is more than good enough to take advantage of a defence which has come apart at the seams in recent times. They have conceded more than 30 points per game on average over the last five matches and there is no way back for the Bears if that trend continues here. I’m not really a motivation against unmotivated bettor but I am on this occasion. I’ll go with the Seattle Seahawks here.
Tips
Back Seattle Seahawks (-3.5) to beat Chicago Bears for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Boylesports
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