Getting to 53: Chicago Bears Roster Prediction

Football Betting Lines

08/13/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) -

Below we take our stab at predicting how the 53-man roster of the 2007 Chicago Bears will take shape:

QB (3): Rex Grossman, Brian Griese, Kyle Orton

RB (4): Cedric Benson, Adrian Peterson, Garrett Wolfe, Jason McKie (FB)

WR (6): Muhsin Muhammad, Bernard Berrian, Devin Hester, Rashied Davis, Mark Bradley, Mike Hass

TE (3): Greg Olsen, Desmond Clark, John Gilmore

OL (9): LT John Tait, LG Ruben Brown, C Olin Kreutz, RG Roberto Garza, RT Fred Miller, T John St. Clair, C/G Josh Beekman, G Terrence Metcalf, T Aaron Brant

DL (9): DT Tommie Harris, DT Darwin Walker, DT Dusty Dvoracek, DE Adewale Ogunleye, DE Alex Brown, DE Mark Anderson, DE Dan Bazuin, DT Anthony Adams, DT Israel Idonije

LB (7): MLB Brian Urlacher, WLB Lance Briggs, SLB Hunter Hillenmeyer, LB Michael Okwo, LB Brendon Ayanbadejo, LB Rod Wilson, LB Jamar Williams

DB (9): CB Charles Tillman, CB Nathan Vasher, S Mike Brown, FS Danieal Manning, S Adam Archuleta, CB Ricky Manning Jr., S Brandon McGowan, CB Trumaine McBride, S Kevin Payne, (Hester)

SP (3): K Robbie Gould, P Brad Maynard, LS Patrick Mannelly

Outside Looking In: FB Obafemi Ayanbadejo, T Mark LeVoir, TE Richard Angulo, WR Brandon Rideau, DT Antonio Garay, LB Leon Joe, LB Darrell McClover, CB Corey Graham

Victoriasvegas Football Betting News


<< Chicago Bears 2007 Season Preview
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It should go without saying that no one wants to play the role of runner-up. An obvious statement, but a more profound one in the NFL, where Super Bowl runners-up have historically enjoyed an ignoble fate. Before the Seatt

<< Real Madrid locks up Sneijder from Ajax
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Real Madrid completed the signing of former Ajax midfielder Wesley Sneijder on Monday, inking the Dutch international to a five-year deal. The 23-year-old Sneijder joins Madrid from Ajax for $36.7 million,

<< Rooney to miss two months with foot injury
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United confirmed on Monday that striker Wayne Rooney will be out of action for two months after suffering a hairline fracture of his left foot in the team's season-opening draw ag

<< Wild weekend at Watkins Glen
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Which one of the following things happened this weekend? 1) Robby Gordon made more friends than enemies. 2) Bill Elliott showed another reason they call him "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville" when he gave

<< Twins nearing rock bottom
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The month of August has been a complete disaster for the Minnesota Twins, who are very likely watching their playoff hopes pass them by after dropping below .500 for the first time in two months. So far, Minnesota is just

Seattle gaining ground >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Seattle Mariners refuse to go away in the race for the American League West crown. The Mariners have been chipping away at the Angels' lead for over two months now, and find themselves just 3 1/2 games out of first. S

Lyon captain Cris expected to miss six months >>
Lyon, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Six-time defending Ligue 1 champions Lyon were dealt another injury blow on Monday when it was revealed that captain Cris will be out for six months with a knee injury. The Brazilian defender suffere

Texas Tech's Rizvic gets waiver >>
Lubbock, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Tech senior center Esmir Rizvic was granted a season of competition waiver by the NCAA Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee Monday. The University sought the waiver after Rizvic's ey

Jets' Jones has lower leg injury >>
Hempstead, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Jets running back Thomas Jones sustained a lower leg injury during practice on Sunday, but head coach Eric Mangini would not divulge the severity of the problem or give a timetable for the vet

Matthew makes leap in Rolex Rankings >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Catriona Matthew won the Scandinavian TPC on the Ladies European Tour Sunday and moved up six places this week to No. 24 in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings. There was no event on the LPGA Tour l

What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.

Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

For more March Madness odds go to MySportsbook.com

For more College Basketball betting lines go to BettingExpress.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.