Thursday Night Football: Bears-Buccaneers Week 5 Odds

Week 3 of the 2020 NFL season kicks off with a Thursday Night Football matchup between the two starting quarterbacks from Super Bowl LII, now on different teams, and BetRivers.com has Bears-Buccaneers Week 5 odds live and ready to bet. Nick Foles, the MVP of Super Bowl LII with the Eagles, makes his second start for the Bears (3-1) as they host former Patriots QB Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-1) on Thursday night.

Rob Dauster is here to examine the Bears-Buccaneers Week 5 odds, the trends worth backing, and the injuries worth paying attention to.

But before we get to the Bears-Buccaneers Week 5 odds, take a look at our Thursday BetRivers.com Specials:

Nick Foles to have more pass yards than Tom Brady & Bears win (TBD)
Either QB to receive a pass (TBD)
Either QB to pass for 500+ yards
Tom Brady to run for o0.5 yards (TBD)

Stay tuned on the latest nfl betting odds and choose your betting strategy.

THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: Bears-Buccaneers Week 5 Odds

Week 5: 8:20 p.m. ET (NFLN/FOX)
Moneyline: Buccaneers -186, Bears +160
Spread: Buccaneers -4
Over/Under: 44 points
Implied Score: Buccaneers 23.75, Bears 19.25

Coming on the heels of Tom Brady’s best performance with his new team, Tampa Bay opened up as 5.5-point favorites, and by Tuesday morning, that line jumped as high as 6-points. But as news has trickled in about the health of Brady’s receiving corps, that number was down to just 4.5-points as of Wednesday morning.

Chicago is coming off of a dismal performance in what was a prime letdown spot, putting up just 11 points in a loss to the Colts, Chicago’s first loss of the season.

Chicago’s ground game was non-existent, putting up just 28 yards on 16 carries as Nick Foles was asked to carry the weight of the offense. That worked out … OK, I guess? He finished 26-42 for 249 yards, a touchdown and an interception in his first start of the season against a good Colt defense.

This is a weird spot to bet, as I want to fade both of these teams. Tampa Bay needed a wild comeback from a 24-7 hole to the Chargers and their rookie quarterback at home, winning 38-31 but failing to cover the 7.5-points that the line closed at. They also own wins over the Panthers and the Broncos.

The Bears, on the other hand, beat the Lions and the Giants, needed a miraculous comeback after benching Mitch Trubisky to beat the Falcons and then were trailing Indianapolis 19-3 before a meaningless touchdown with two minutes left in the game made that scoreline more respectable.

So, yeah.

Weird spot.

And in situations like this, I tend to lean towards home teams, especially when that home team is the one getting the points.

Some of the value is gone now that the number is down to Chicago (+4.5), but the Bears still have one of the better defenses in the NFL and they’ll be going up against a Tampa Bay team that won’t have O.J. Howard, likely won’t have Chris Godwin and currently have Mike Evans, Leonard Fournette and LeSean McCoy all listed as questionable on a short week.