Lookahead Week 5 NFL Vegas spreads, betting odds: First primetime game for Tom Brady with Bucs

Thanks to landing Tom Brady in free agency this offseason – you may have heard something about that? – the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be featured in primetime a franchise-record five times in 2020. The first of those is the Thursday night game in Week 5 as the Bucs have opened as 3-point favorites at the Chicago Bears on the William Hill NFL lookahead odds. Fox and the NFL Network will both show Bucs-Bears. It's also Chicago's first primetime game of the season with the Bears scheduled for four.

Brady last played at Soldier Field in Week 7 of the 2018 season with the Patriots, and he threw for 277 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-31 victory. The Bears nearly scored on a Hail Mary at the end, but Kevin White (now long gone) was brought down a yard shy of the goal line. Brady is 5-0 all-time vs. the Bears.

It's not a great week for marquee matchups overall with four current double-digit betting favorites: Baltimore at -13 over visiting Cincinnati in a matchup of former Heisman Trophy winners in Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson; Kansas City at -11.5 over visiting Las Vegas; New England -10 over the visiting Broncos; and Dallas -11 over the sad-sack New York Giants. That Denver-New England game was originally scheduled for 1 p.m. ET on CBS but was shifted to 4:25 p.m. ET this week.

The Sunday night game featuring the Vikings at Seahawks looked good on paper when the schedule was released, but the Vikings have hugely disappointed. The teams played on a Monday night in Week 13 last year in the Pacific Northwest and the Seahawks won 37-30. Seattle is -9.5 this time.

The Week 5 Monday night game is the Los Angeles Chargers at the New Orleans Saints, who are 7.5-point opening favorites. It likely will be the last time Saints QB Drew Brees faces the Chargers. Of course, they drafted the future Hall of Famer with the No. 32 overall pick in 2001 out of Purdue. Brees spent his first five years with the Bolts before leaving for New Orleans in free agency. The Chargers own a 7-5 record against the Saints all-time and this will be their first-ever meeting on a Monday night.

There is no line in Titans-Bills because of the COVID-19 outbreak with Tennessee, which will now be on a short week (either playing Monday or Tuesday vs. Pittsburgh in Week 4) against Buffalo. The first bye weeks begin as well with Detroit and Green Bay off.  

William Hill Week 5 opening odds (subject to change)

• Thursday: Tampa Bay at Chicago (+3)
• Cincinnati at Baltimore (-13)
• LA Rams at Washington (+9.5)
• Arizona at NY Jets (+8)
• Philadelphia at Pittsburgh (-7)
• Las Vegas at Kansas City (-11.5)
• Carolina at Atlanta (-3.5)
• Jacksonville at Houston (-6.5)
• Buffalo at Tennessee (TBA)
• Miami at San Francisco (-8.5)
• Denver at New England (-10)
• Indianapolis at Cleveland (+2.5)
• NY Giants at Dallas (-11)
• Sunday night: Minnesota at Seattle (-9.5)
• Monday: LA Chargers at New Orleans (-7.5)

Who wins every NFL game this week? And which teams cover more than 50 percent of the time? Get picks here from the SportsLine Projection Model, which simulates every NFL game 10,000 times and ranked in the Top 10 on NFLPickWatch three of the past four years on straight-up NFL picks.