NFL Week 6 Officiating Angles: Finding Edges in Vikings-Bears, Lions-Buccaneers, Patriots-Raiders

We launched this column to see if we could capitalize on referees' tendencies. So far, so good.

We're 10-5 after cashing all three of our bets last week: 49ers -3.5, Steelers +4.5 (admittedly very fortunate) and Texans-Falcons Under 41.5.

This season, Joe Gibbs (not the Hall of Fame coach, the NFL referee expert who tweets @NFLrefstats1) is collaborating with SportsLine to provide weekly officiating angles. He analyzes the NFL referee assignments from the moment they are released each Tuesday.

Before you make any Week 6 NFL picks or NFL parlays, you need to see what Gibbs and SportsLine senior analyst Larry Hartstein have to say about the officiating crews' tendencies.

We can tell you Hartstein and Gibbs are going Under 44.5 for Vikings-Bears. Referee Brad Allen drew the assignment, and he's 28-16 (65%) to the Under in divisional games since 2016. Allen also officiated the Vikings-Bears matchup in Week 18 last season, a 29-13 Minnesota win that barely stayed Under the closing total of 42.5.

"Allen has called 66% of his overall penalties on the offense this season, ranking him No. 2," Gibbs said. "The Bears and Vikings both rank highly in offensive penalties, with 66% and 65% of their respective penalties being committed on that side of the ball in 2023."

The forecast calls for 19-mph winds with a chance of rain. Minnesota won't have all-world wideout Justin Jefferson (hamstring), while the Bears appear to be getting healthier in their beleaguered secondary.

Hartstein also is sharing key officiating angles in Lions-Buccaneers and Patriots-Raiders. You need to see this critical referee data before locking in your picks!

So which side of Lions-Buccaneers has the edge? And what other officiating edges can be found on the Week 6 slate? ... Join SportsLine right now to see Larry Hartstein's Week 6 NFL officiating trends, all from the expert who went 53-34-3 in the SuperContest last year!