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ICYMI: We went through all 16 games on Tuesday; watch it here.

It's a bit of a sleepy spot here for me and the viewing public with Christmas on a Wednesday. It certainly doesn’t FEEL like a Thursday.

Market

The lookahead market for this was on the other side of three, with some places as low as Seattle -2 last week. The price reopened at an expensive -3 or even -3.5 and has been pushed out even a bit further to the current number.

The total had moved up off the opener of 42.5 but found resistance at 43.5 on Monday and has worked its way back down. The lookahead was 41.5 last week.

Injuries

The Bears ruled out four players for Thursday night's game, including LG Teven Jenkins (calf), S Elijah Hicks (ankle/foot), RB Travis Homer (hamstring) and S Tarvarius Moore (knee). DT Gervon Dexter (knee), OL Doug Kramer (shoulder), and LB Amen Ogbongbemiga (hip) are listed as questionable.

For Seattle: RB Kenneth Walker III will miss the game after injuring his ankle late in last week’s loss. Zach Charbonnet has been a full go the past two practices and will slide in to the RB1 role again.

TE Brady Russell and S K’Von Wallace are also out for this week.

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Matchup

Maybe I’m just running on leftover egg nog fumes and am being affected by the road favorites winning and covering yesterday, but the Bears have not gotten any better since they fired head coach Matt Eberflus.

The offensive line continues to be hurt, Caleb is making it worse with his (lack of) sack avoidance, and the secondary is getting worse and worse. Meanwhile, the pass rush has taken a big step back after being a highlight of some of the early season's successes.

Seems like a straightforward matchup for the Seahawks, who absolutely have something to play for here. They need some help, but their playoff chances are still very live. They’ve begun to realize just what dynamic slot player they have in JSN, and they will likely have a massive matchup there. With the injuries and all the changes in the coaching staff, the Bears’ defense has been getting worse and worse. Looking at their performance since week 10, there are not many metrics where they aren’t close to the bottom five in the league.

A couple of inexperienced head coaches on a short week late in the season probably adds to the volatility a bit, but both teams have played a Thursday game already this season.

As I mentioned on the live stream Tuesday, the Seahawks have NOT had a ton of practice this week. It’s a bit of a weird one with the holiday right in the middle of things, and either team coming out flat wouldn’t surprise me.

My fair price is right around the market for this, and I did think that maybe I’d lay it with the road fav anyway.  

All the weak spots for the Bears seemingly match up against the strengths of the Seahawks. Expecting this offensive line and defensive secondary to have their hands full again.

As I was grabbing the link to YouTube for the week, it kept auto-playing in the background, and I was reminded of a nice angle from one of the long-time commentators, Patrick. I even found the spot where I wrote it down in my notes!

Bet: Seattle team total over 22.5 -135

Lastly, I didn’t exactly fly out of bed and attack the day this morning after all the wine yesterday. I started my day with a fair amount of scrolling, which led me to this gem. I thought it was a joke, but this has an IMDb page and everything.

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