CHI VS BUF

Buffalo Bills vs Chicago Bears

Two of the coldest cities with NFL football teams square off whenever the Buffalo Bills and Chicago Bears go head-to-head. In a battle for Conference bragging rights, the series pits the AFC North against the NFC North and has featured the likes of Bruce Smith and Walter Payton along with modern-day players like Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs, and Justin Fields. This matchup can be a moneymaker for you as well so keep on reading for the inside scoop on what to look for when the Bills and Bears play.

The History

Buffalo has had great players and perhaps the best team to never win a Super Bowl with the Jim Kelly and Bruce Smith Bills of the early ‘90s. Those teams would dominate the AFC for four years straight en route to four consecutive Super Bowl appearances. Sadly, not one of those visits resulted in a victory, however, they do have two championships as a franchise when they won back to back in 1964 and ‘65. In the 2020s so far, the Bills have found success behind newer stars like QB Josh Allen and wide receiver Stefon Diggs, both of whom are two of the most popular players in the league.

As one of the two oldest franchises in the NFL (the other being the Arizona Cardinals), the Bears have been a franchise for more than 100 years dating all the way back to 1919 when they were established in Decatur, Illinois. As long as they’ve been around, Chicago has only won one Super Bowl although they have eight championship titles from before the Super Bowl Era (1970). Their one Super Bowl team, however, is one of the most popular of all time with Ditka, Jim McMahon, and Refrigerator Perry the memorable names of the 1985 Bears. They also play at the iconic Soldier Field, the oldest stadium in the NFL.

The Matchup

First and foremost, consider the amount of time that passes between games featuring the Bills and Bears, specifically once every four years these days, so not very often. It used to be once every three years although they didn’t play each other at all between 1979-1987. With that being said, one game in this small handful of matchups stands out the most, a 1991 game in Buffalo that the Bills won 35-20. The quarterback for Buffalo was Hall of Famer Jim Kelly and for the Bears, it was none other than current Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh.

The teams only played three games in the 2010s but the teams they’ve thrown out there are significantly different each time around. In a 2010 match, Ryan Fitzpatrick was the starting QB for the Bills while Jay Cutler was under center for the Bears. Cutler remained at QB for Chicago when the teams met again in 2014 only this time the Bills’ QB was E.J. Manuel. The 2018 matchup featured Nathan Peterman at the helm for Buffalo and Mitch Trubisky was the QB for Chicago.

Odds and Ends

With less than 15 games in the series thus far, we still have enough games to look into the numbers a bit and see some trends and data to help determine where to put your money. For example, from 1988 until 2006, the winning team in the series won by an average of 16.6 points per contest in seven games while the winning team won by an average of 17.3 points in four matches between 2006-2018. Don’t expect a high-scoring affair when these two teams meet as only three games thus far in the series have combined for 50 points or more.

Interesting note on the home teams here. The home team went 10-1 straight up over the first 11 games of the series, however, they would then lose three in a row from 2010 until 2018. It doesn’t matter where the teams are in terms of the standings when they play because the series has been split over the last six games from 2000-2018 with each team going 3-3.

Why You Should Bet on This Game

This is a great game to bet on for the details as long as you use the above for reference. Let’s look at the 10 games from 1988 up until 2018 because when you look at the spreads, the series becomes even closer with the Bears going 5-4-1 against the spread in those 10 games. The over hit three times out of five between 2002 and 2018, however, the under won three consecutive games from 1994 to 2000. If you’re seeing totals in the upper 30s, it’s worth grabbing the over as all five contests from 2002 to 2018 went over 40 points. Be wary of any spreads lower than -3.5 as these teams have had a lot of games decided by double-digits. Pay close attention to the home teams as well with a three-game losing streak by the host between 2010-2018.