Loot Levinson

The Los Angeles Rams take on the Chicago Bears on Sunday at Soldier Field on a key NFC week 14 matchup. The Bears, playing without starting QB Mitchell Trubisky for the second straight week, saw their five-game win streak broken on Sunday in a rough overtime loss to the Giants, 30-27. They look to bounce back with the return of their QB, but it’s not easy when the team with the best record in the conference is coming to town. Despite the league records online sportsbooks are only favoring the Rams by a field goal.

The Detroit Lions come to Glendale for a week 14 match with the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. Neither team has had a successful season based on wins and losses, but their is still fight left in both clubs based on Week 13 games. The oddsmaker has the Cardinals as a small -2.5 home favorite with the total line offered up at 40.5 points. Scoring greater than 20 points has been a problem for both teams all season and the Week 14 match-ups suggest more of the same. Read our prognosticator opinion on how the game will unfold and get his forecast.

The Denver Broncos come into the Bay Area for a week 14 showdown with the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday Night Football. San Francisco is home, coming off their third loss in a row—a 43-16 road-loss to the Seahawks last Sunday. At 2-10 and almost as bad against the spread, confidence is low and for a good reason. The linesmaker has the Broncos as a -5.5 road favorite. Denver is banged up on the defensive side of the ball so they may be ripe for the upset. Football handicapper Loot Levinson has down his homework and gives out his suggested wager on the game.

The struggling Bengals losers of six of their last seven matches head to Los Angeles to take on the high flying Chargers in Week 14 NFL action. The NFL betting board lists the hosts as a large -14 point spread favorite with the total posted at 47.5 points. This has the feel of a college game to me with Cincinnati outmatched in most metrics making the two-touchdown line appear to be an underlay. Get Loot’s take on this game and see which side of the spread he is landing on.

The 49ers are in rough shape. For them not to be competitive against a spiraling Tampa bunch is a testament to how bad things are going into week 13. Nick Mullens offered some early promise at quarterback, but has thrown two picks in each of his last two games and the luster is long gone. The story of this team has been injuries. Then just this past week, Rueben Foster went from a difference-maker on defense to getting cut after another transgression. Is this the point where the 49ers give up? This idea can make getting even 10 points from your sportsbook seem like not enough.

So far this season, Pittsburgh has responded well to bad situations. After winning only one of their first four games of the season, they were able to alter course dramatically, winning 6 straight and have not failed to cover the spread once in that period. The last few weeks have seen the Steelers slacking off a bit. First came a close win against Jacksonville where they were half-dead for the first three quarters of the game. Against Denver, four turnovers and a general sagging in overall energy was responsible for the defeat. Does the Pittsburgh roller coaster climb back to the win column and so by 4 points?

With almost every NFL team, there are going to be peaks and valleys. The Raiders have been awful—there is no debate. But they managed to beat the Cardinals on the road a few weeks back. They dominated most of the first half against the Chargers the game before. And, against Baltimore on the road last week, they took a 7-0 lead and trailed only 13-10 at halftime. So, it’s not like they’re getting run over every time out. When looking at those efforts the 15 points bookmakers are offering looks a little juicy.