Former Bears coach Matt Nagy returns to Soldier Field for the first time since being fired by the organization in the offseason when the Chicago Bears host the Kansas City Chiefs in the teams' first preseason game on Saturday. After going 34-31 in four seasons with the Bears, including a 6-11 record last year, Nagy was fired in January and replaced by Matt Eberflus. One month later, Nagy landed as quarterbacks coach at Kansas City, where he was an assistant for five seasons prior to being hired by the Bears.
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET. After Chicago opened as the favorite, Kansas City is now listed as the 2.5-point favorite in the latest Bears vs. Chiefs odds from Caesars Sportsbook, while the over/under for total points scored is up to 39.
Before you make any Chiefs vs. Bears picks or NFL preseason predictions, you NEED to see which side SportsLine expert Larry Hartstein is on.
A former lead writer for Covers and The Linemakers, Hartstein combines a vast network of Vegas sources with an analytical approach he honed while working for Pro Football Focus. Entering the 2022 NFL season, he is 427-344 all-time on NFL sides (plus $3,764 for $100 players), including 394-330 against the spread. Hartstein went 68-50 ATS (58 percent) and 8-3 on money-line plays last season for a profit of $1,552.
In addition, he correctly picked the Raiders (pick 'em) to cover last week's Hall of Fame game against the Jaguars. Anybody who has been following him is WAY UP.
Hartstein knows Chicago's staff plans to play the Bears' first-teamers on Saturday. New coach Matt Eberflus is in the process of installing new schemes on both sides of the ball and said last week he wants to get his starters "a good amount" of snaps against the Chiefs. That includes quarterback Justin Fields, who went 14-of-20 passing for 142 yards and a touchdown and added 33 rushing yards and a touchdown in last season's preseason opener.
Hartstein also knows Kansas City is planning to play Patrick Mahomes for around a quarter along with many other key starters. The defense finished last season playing well. After allowing 31.3 points per game and 7.1 yards per play over the first five games of last season, the Chiefs gave up just 16.8 points per game and 5.4 yards per play over the final 12 contests. Yards per game allowed also dropped from 437.4 to 340.4.
Now, Hartstein has locked in another confident against the spread pick for Chiefs vs. Bears. We can tell you he's leaning Under the total, but he knows a crucial X-factor makes one side of the spread a MUST-BACK! You ABSOLUTELY need to see what it is before locking in any picks of your own.
Who wins Chiefs vs. Bears on Saturday? And what critical X-factor makes one side of the spread a must-back? ... Join SportsLine right now to see which side of the Bears vs. Chiefs spread to jump on, all from the expert who has returned more than $3,700!
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