NFL Week 1 Best Bets: Bears vs. Rams Sunday Night Football Picks and Predictions

The Chicago Bears collide with the LA Rams at SoFi Stadium for primetime Sunday night football action, marking the first week of the 2021-22 NFL season.

It’s the start of a new era for both the Bears and Rams as they’re set to debut new quarterbacks under center, but online bookmakers like the look of the Rams with Matthew Stafford better than the Bears with Andy Dalton. As it currently stands in the betting, the Rams are laying 7.5 points to the Bears.

Will Stafford and the Rams deliver as home favorites? Or will the Dandy Andy prove he’s still a viable quarterback and lead the Bears to victory. What would be a huge upset in the first week of the 2021-22 NFL season. Find out as we preview this game and serve up choice NFL picks.

Chicago Bears vs. Los Angeles Rams

Sunday, September 12, 2021 - 08:20 PM EDT at SoFi Stadium

Bears Starting Andy Dalton Over Justin Fields

The Chicago Bears made quite the splash when they moved up in the 2021 NFL draft to snap up Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Justin Fields at No.11. The move was met with widespread praise. Finally, the beleaguered and long-suffering Chicago fan base had something to cheer about –a potential franchise quarterback with huge upside. The future looked bright. And if Fields would prove every bit the special quarterback that scouts tipped him to be, NFL experts predicted it would go some way towards assuaging the infamously missed opportunity in the 2017 NFL draft when GM Ryan Pace and the Chicago organization passed up on Patrick Mahomes and drafted Mitch Trubisky instead. Ouch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjVff90PMew

Chicago fans will have to wait as Fields debut is on hold for the foreseeable. Head coach Matt Nagy is hanging his hat – even staking his reputation and potentially his job – on Dandy Andy. The veteran quarterback signed with the Chicago Bears in the offseason after spending one unsuccessful season with the Dallas Cowboys with the understanding that he would be the No.1 quarterback. Suppose, keeping their promise to Dalton is admirable. But at what cost.

Clearly, bookmakers aren’t buying what the Bears are selling right now. Why else would the Bears be catching more than a touchdown on the NFL odds board otherwise? The Bears may have moved on from Trubisky in the offseason, but Dalton certainly isn’t considered an upgrade at the position.

Andy Dalton #14 of the Chicago Bears. Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images/AFP

LA Rams Debut Matt Stafford

Nobody has really seen Matthew Stafford play a snap with his new team, save for the Rams in practice, and those fortunate enough to have had a rare look-in on the veteran quarterback in his new digs during last month’s season preparations. As far as everyone else is concerned, it’s completely uncertain whether the quarterback swap that rocked the NFL earlier this year is going to prove to be a stroke of genius or a total bust.

Bookmakers across multiple sports betting platforms are optimistic though. Very optimistic in fact because the Rams are not only pegged as the 7.5-point home chalk in this week 1 matchup, but the Rams are also amongst the Top 5 favorites to win Super Bowl 56. Talk about a ringing endorsement for a quarterback that has never won a playoff game, never mind competed for a championship. Suppose, the debate about Stafford will be put to bed this season: Were his failures down to him or the result of poor coaching playing on a mediocre Lions team for the better part of his career?

https://twitter.com/RamsNFL/status/1435356543210307586?s=20

The offensive weapons around Stafford are quite impressive and include wide receivers Cooper Kupp, Van Jefferson and Robert Woods. The talented TE Tyler Higbee and the pass-catching RB Sony Michel and depth to the offense and give Stafford a ton of options to work with. He really won’t have any excuses for failure, and certainly not against a questionable Chicago Bears outfit.

Of course, most of the value and the lofty NFL odds are tied to the Rams D-unit, which is without a doubt one of the most respected and feared in the league, spearheaded by DT Aaron Donald and CB Jalen Ramsey. The Rams defense can make anyone’s life miserable and present a challenge for opposing teams that often is insurmountable.

https://twitter.com/ChicagoBears/status/1434924576828428288?s=20

Key Injuries

Bears: RB Tarik Cohen (knee), LB Danny Trevathan (knee), DL Eddie Goldman (illness); and OL Teven Jenkins (back) are out indefinitely; WR Darnell Mooney (back) is questionable; and DL Mario Edwards (suspension) is eligible in three weeks.

Rams: QB John Wolford (appendix), WR Ben Skowonek (forearm), DL A-Shawn Robinson (knee) are questionable Sunday; RB Cam Akers (Achilles) and RB Xavier Jones (Achilles) are on I-R; LB Ogbomnia Okoronkwo (shoulder), OL Coleman Shelton (Illness), LB Chris Garrett (Illness), DL Bobby Brown III (thumb) and DB Robert Rochell (wrist) are out indefinitely.

NFL Preview and Predictions

There’s simply too much talent with the Rams for this game not to result in a home win on Sunday night football. On both sides of the ball, Sean McVay’s team is simply better and, well, he does have the better quarterback too…at least, statistically Stafford is better than Dalton. Speaking of the Bears, they don’t appear to have changed much since last year. Dandy Andy may be a veteran, but he’s hardly an elite quarterback. Oh, there’s also the fact that “primetime Andy Dalton” isn’t any good.

So, the Rams to win is the choice bet here. However, with NFL odds of -360 or higher on the money-line (more than three-and-a-half times than return), there’s little value on a straight-up bet. Unless, one has silly money to play with. So, the value bet for this matchup is the point spread. The question is whether the Rams are really 7.5 points or more better than the Bears? To be honest, they probably are. So, the Rams to cover as the 7.5-point home chalk is the top NFL pick here.

NFL Picks: (visit our Sportsbook Review)

*The pick reflects the line at the moment the writer made the play, the odds at the beginning of this article show the live line movement. Since the lines might vary, don’t forget to refer back to our live odds.