NFC North Odds for Preseason Week Three

It’s the third week of the NFL preseason starting on Thursday. Week three is as close to the regular season as the preseason offers. While the teams may not do whatever it takes to win, they will give the starters a longer look in this game. That is because in week four, the starters will not play at all to rest them up for the opening game. So week three is a week to pay attention to.

The big questions in the NFC North will be:

Who will the Minnesota Vikings start at quarterback? Will it be Christian Ponder or McLeod Bethel-Thompson? Their game with the San Francisco 49ers may go a long way toward giving us the answer to that one. Bethel-Thompson will have the added pressure of playing near his college, Sacramento State. The game will be televised Sunday Night on NBC.

Just how good is Green Bay’s offense? They have had a tough time getting the ball into the end zone even though they look good. They will get a stern test this week when they face a Seattle Seahawks teams that completely dismantled the Denver Broncos last week. CBS will televise that game on Friday night at 8:00.

Will Jay Cutler have a big year with the Chicago Bears? He’s looked okay in the preseason so far. The Bears will travel to face the Oakland Raiders on Friday at 10:00. This game will be televised by the NFL Network. The Raiders have not looked good on offense so the Bears should shut them down.

Are the Detroit Lions any good at all? A couple of years ago, it looked like the Lions were well on their way to being a good team. Then last season was a disaster. Now question marks abound. How good will Reggie Bush be? Is Matthew Stafford worth all the money he’s getting paid? Can he get the ball to Calvin Johnson? The Lions will host the New England Patriots on Thursday night. If the Lions have anything, we should know something after this game.

JustBet has odds for this week’s games involving teams from the NFC North:

New England at Detroit– New England is +2.5 -110 and the Lions -2.5 -110 ATS. Really? We are going with the Pats +2.5 on this one. Over/Under is 46 with both -110. I like the over on this one too.

Seattle at Green Bay– Seattle is -2.5 -110 and the Pack +2.5 -110 ATS. Interesting that the visitors are the favorites here. We are taking the Packers +2.5. Over/Under is 42.5 with both -110. We like the over on this one.

Chicago at Oakland– Chicago is -3.5 -110 and the Raiders are +3.5 -110 ATS. We are going to take the Raiders +3.5 at home. Over/Under is 38 with both -110. We like the over here.

Minnesota at San Francisco– The Vikings are +4.5 -110 and the Niners are -4.5 -110 ATS. We like the 49ers -4.5 at home. Over/Under is 40 with both -110. We like the under on this one.