SPORTS BETTING

• San Francisco 49ers vs. Chicago Bears 8:00 ET

  Posted on Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT by North Shore Sports, INC

  
  

  Week 3 of the 2008 NFL pre-season kicks back up on Thursday night when the (1-1) San Francisco 49ers invade the “Windy City” to take on the (0-2) Chicago Bears in an NFL online betting clash; kick-off is scheduled for 8:00 ET. This game will mark San Francisco’s first road game of the season, while the Bears get to play their second and final pre-season home game at Soldier Field.

  San Francisco bounced back from a poor Week 1 road effort at Oakland with a dominating performance last week at home against the Green Bay Packers. The NFL betting odds closed with the 49ers a one-point home favorite with the ‘total’ set at 34.5. The 49ers blew the NFL betting line away covering the one-point spread with ease in the 34-6 victory, and the combined 40-points sent over bettors home happy. QB J.T. O’Sullivan looked to have separated himself in the Niners QB derby by throwing for 154 yards on 8-of-17 passing with a TD:INT ratio of 1:1. The defense also helped the team win the turnover battle by recovering three Green Bay fumbles. The Niners are now 1-1 both SU and ATS in the pre-season.

  Chicago lost its home opener against Kansas City costing football bettors laying the points a winning ticket. The offense didn’t look much better last week in Seattle, but the defense and special teams were phenomenal accounting for 19 of their 26 overall points. The NFL betting line closed with Chicago a three-point road favorite with the ‘total’ set at 35. Only 14 combined points were scored after the first 30 minutes of play, but the scoring took off in the second half due to a number of big plays. This allowed the over to cash for the second week in a row when Seattle won by a 29-26 final count in overtime. The Bears now stand a winless 0-2 both SU and ATS in NFLX action.

  San Francisco head coach Mike Nolan stated Monday that QB JT O'Sullivan will start for the third straight exhibition game against the Bears on Thursday night. Followed by Alex Smith who should see action in the third quarter with Shaun Hill to close it out. Chicago announced that Kyle Orton will be their #1 QB to start the regular season, so expect him to get a bulk of the snaps this evening followed by Rex Grossman and rookie Caleb Hanie. The starters are expected to play into the third quarter.

  The NFL betting trends all point to a Chicago pointspread victory in this spot. A very lucrative betting trend takes place in this game that states: teams in Week 3 of the pre-season coming off two consecutive SU and ATS losses are 13-5 ATS (72%) dating back to 1997. Making the Bears that much sweeter under that scenario is the fact that San Francisco is 1-6 ATS away vs. an opponent off back-to-back SU losses.

  Offshore Oddsmakers opened Chicago up as five-point home favorites with the ‘total’ set at 35.5. Since then, the NFL wagering public has bought into San Francisco lowering the Bears to three-point favorites, and bet the ‘total’ up to its current placement of 37. Bookmaker Sportsbook offers all NFL Week 3 pre-season betting lines be it spread, total, or $$$-line, so be sure to login to your account and get your NFL wagers down for the nationally televised broadcast.