{"id":6025,"date":"2019-08-14T10:46:09","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T10:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/?p=6025"},"modified":"2019-08-14T10:47:24","modified_gmt":"2019-08-14T10:47:24","slug":"nfl-over-under-win-totals-preview-nfc-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/nfl\/nfl-over-under-win-totals-preview-nfc-north\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Over\/Under Win Totals Preview: NFC North"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The NFC North wasn’t the least competitive division in the NFL last year but it was far from competitive. The Chicago Bears finished at 12-4 running away with the divisional title thanks in large part to a 5-1 record against NFC North rivals and a 10-2 record against conference foes. Based on the NFL futures betting odds<\/a> for the division the expectation is that the NFC North should be significantly more competitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CHICAGO BEARS:<\/strong> There’s little reason to think that the Chicago Bears won’t be the team to beat in the division once again in 2019. Matt Nagy did a great job in his first year as head coach and he returns most of the same personnel. The Bears traded running back Jordan Howard to Philadelphia drafted David Montgomery out of Iowa State to replace him. The prevailing wisdom is that Montgomery is a better fit for Nagy’s offense. Even with Montgomery’s departure Chicago is very deep at the running back position with former South Carolina Gamecock Mike Davis and Tarik Cohen both earning kudos for their training camp performance. Much maligned place kicker Cody Parkey is gone though the team hasn’t settled on a replacement. Nagy has made clear that the kicking situation is a concern. One thing that isn’t a concern is the punting game where Pat O’Donnell was given a two year contract extension and already ranks among the best at the position in franchise history. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio is also gone having taken over as the head coach in Denver. Bears look solid but the offense needs to be more consistent, particularly Mitchell Trubisky’s passing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CHICAGO BEARS OVER 9 WINS -105 (BEST BET)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MINNESOTA VIKINGS:<\/strong> The Vikings had an excellent defense last year and led by linebacker Anthony Barr the expectation is for the same this year. Minnesota finished with the #4 total defense and #9 scoring defense. The problem is on the other side of the ball. Vikings were the #20 total offense and #19 scoring offense. The ground game was dismal, ranked #30 in the league averaging a paltry 93.3 yards per game. It could be a problem again this season as Dalvin Cook is at the top of an uninspiring depth chart. They definitely need more out of QB Kirk Cousins and particularly if the running game is anemic. They’ve got both Kevin Stefanski and Gary Kubiak working on the offense and that should be a boost. Providing a bit of hope for both Cousins and the Vikings’ rushing attack to have a better year is a healthy offensive line that added Garrett Bradbury out of NC State. Cousins has excellent receivers in Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen but was really hung out to dry by his OL last season resulting in him getting sacked 40 times. If the defense stays strong and the OL improves the Vikings might give the Bears at least nominal competition. In theory, Minnesota should be better but no real interest in either side of the win total prop. We’ll lean ‘Over’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MINNESOTA VIKINGS OVER 9 WINS -105<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GREEN BAY PACKERS:<\/strong> The Packers and quarterback Aaron Rodgers are trying to avoid three straight losing seasons. With a 6-9-1 record last year, the Pack has endured two straight sub .500 seasons for the first time since 1991. New head coach Matt LaFleur was brought in to restore some potency to the offense. He’s also going to handle play calling so for the team’s sake there needs to be a good rapport between him and Rodgers. Even if QB and coach get along famously the Packers might be in for an ugly season anyway. Wide receivers aren’t anything special though undrafted rookie Darrius Shepherd has impressed in training camp and could make the team. He’s been getting a lot of reps with the first team offense and could make the roster giving Green Bay a much needed slot receiver. The team’s best running back is Aaron Jones who is expected to be an ‘every down back’ but is injury prone. The depth chart behind Jones is pretty uninspiring. The hope is that tight end Jimmy Graham returns to form. Defense was below average in most statistical categories last year. Packers are going to have to have a lot go right if they’re going to compete for the division crown and it just doesn’t look like they’ve got the skill position personnel on offense to pull it off. The win total is a head scratcher at 9–Packers will need to go 10-6 or better to cash the ‘Over’ and hard to see that happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GREEN BAY PACKERS UNDER 9 WINS -110 (BEST BET)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DETROIT LIONS:<\/strong> In terms of the win total bet, the Lions might be the beneficiary of ‘lowered expectations’. Don’t want anything to do with them at +900 on the Lions to win the division. The team was a grease fire last year putting up a 6-10 record in Matt Patricia’s first season as head coach. At one point, they lost 7 of 9 games and were outgained in 11 of 16 contests. His earned the gig with his work as the New England Patriots’ defensive coordinator and that’s really the only component of the Lions team that improved last year. The Lions defense still has work to do with the linebacking and secondary but the line looks downright nasty and got better with the addition of DE Trey Flowers. If the rest of the ‘D’ can get better Detroit could have a punishing defense. They finished 10th in total defense last year though their scoring defense lagged behind at #16. Even so, this is a Top 10 defense against both the pass and run. Matthew Stafford regressed last year and his OL took a hit with the loss of TJ Lang. Detroit drafted tight end T.J. Hockenson out of Iowa. Physically, he’s a beast (6’5″ 251) and the Lions are hoping he’s able to contribute immediately. Detroit will likely leapfrog Green Bay for third place and should be incrementally better. The defense could be excellent and that alone should get the Lions to at least .500 this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DETROIT LIONS OVER 7 WINS +100 (BEST BET)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get the latest NFL football odds and information–follow BetOnline.ag on Twitter<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NFC North wasn’t the least competitive division in the NFL last year but it was far from competitive. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":6026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6025"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6028,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6025\/revisions\/6028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}