2023 Chicago Bears futures odds, props, trends: Bettors heavy on Justin Fields for NFL MVP, Matt Eberflus for Coach of the Year

The sportsbooks certainly don't mind, but some NFL fan bases will hammer futures on their club summer after summer even if those wagers are longshots to hit. That's the joy of training camp: Optimism abounds, and not just among players and coaches. The Chicago Bears are always one of those popular offseason teams and that helps the explain heavy, heavy action on props at PointsBet involving Justin Fields and head coach Matt Eberflus.

Look, I'm a Bears fan and there's some excitement for this season despite a 3-14 record last year that earned the franchise the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft for the first time in decades, which GM Ryan Poles traded pick to Carolina for good young receiver DJ Moore and more draft picks. By all accounts, Poles has had a good offseason in terms of free agent signings and picks.

Chicago is set at over/ynder 7.5 wins and the Over is now priced -145, with 71% of the handle and 56% of the tickets leaning that way at PointsBet. The Bears opened many months ago at +8000 to win Super Bowl 58 and are down to +400, taking the eighth-most tickets (4.6%) and handle (4.7%).

Fields opened at +3000 to become the first (and only other) Bears player to win regular-season MVP honors since the late great Walter Payton in 1977, but is now down to +1500. Fields has not just taken the most bets to win the award (18.7%), but the former Ohio State star has gotten more than twice as many as another other player outside of Eagles quarterback and 2022 MVP runner-up Jalen Hurts.

Fields certainly took a huge step forward in his second season, but he will have to take another big leap as a passer to even merit MVP consideration. Fields completed 60.4% of his passes last year for 2,242 yards, 17 TDs and 11 picks for a rating of 85.2 that was 26th in the league. That will not cut it in the MVP race, even if Fields goes nuts on the ground again. He rushed for 1,143 yards in 2022, the second-most ever by a QB.

Chicago's offensive line remains a major question mark – Fields was sacked a whopping 55 times in his 15 games a year ago – and the skill position talent around him remains rather shaky. Moore certainly upgrades the receiving room, but top rusher David Montgomery left in free agency.

As for Eberflus… did he even do a good job in 2022? I would say no. Most of Fields' success is credited to offensive coordinator and play-caller Luke Getsy. Eberflus is a defensive specialist (he's a former Colts defensive coordinator) and that side of the ball is his baby, but that Bears unit was terrible last year – it finished dead last in scoring defense at 27.2 points per game. Sure, some of that was due to the offense putting the defense in bad field position. The team focused on defenders in free agency and added to the unit with its two second-round picks and lone third-rounder.

Eberflus was originally priced at +1500 for Coach of the Year but is down to +750, now behind only Detroit's Dan Campbell  (+700). Eberflus is second in tickets (13.9%) and handle (28.9%), both behind Campbell.

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