NFC Championship Game

NO(+2.5)@CHI: The Saints Come Marching In

NO OFF Total #1 391.5, Rush #19 110.1, Pass #1 281.4, Sacks #4 23, RZ% #11 .547, Eff. #3 5.83 ypp. DEF Total #11 307.3, Rush D #23 128.9, Pass D #3 178.4, Sacks #13 38, TO diff #22 -4, RZD #22 .537, Eff. #19 5.29 ypp. Strength: of Victory .425; of Schedule .461

CHI OFF Total #15 324.9, Rush #15 119.9, Pass #14 205.1, Sacks #7 25, RZ% #18 .480, Eff. #21 4.99 ypp. DEF Total #5 294.1, Rush D #6 99.4, Pass D #11 194.8, Sacks #8 40, TO diff #4 +8, RZD #9 .475, Eff. #2 4.60 ypp. Strength: of Victory .404; of Schedule .430

NO 6-2 SU & 7-1 ATS on the road, 9-4 ATS vs NFC, 8-2 ATS as a dog, last 4 vs CHI 3-0-1 ATS & 3-1 SU. CHI 5-4 ATS at home, 2-8 ATS in Jan, 1-4 ATS in playoffs.

Key #1: Last 3 home & away, CHI RZ eff. .500 vs Saints RZ D .200, Da Bears will struggle in the red zone.

Key #2: Last 3 games, NO red zone effic .692 vs CHI RZ D .625, the Saints will succeed in the red zone.

Key #3: Saints run D last 3 games 104 ypg & 4.4 ypc, but last 3 away games 160 ypg & 6.1 ypc. The Bears may be able to run the ball if the Saint road run D shows up.

Somethings gotta give: Saints run O last 3 games 168 ypg & 4.7 ypc vs CHI run D 97 ypg & 3.5 ypc. The Saints run game has improved, how will they fair vs a stout Bear run D?

Key #4: Last 3 games home & away, CHI D allowing 345 ypg & 27 ppg, NO D allowing 274 ypg & 12 ppg. Right now, the Saints D is playing much better than Da Bears.

The Saints potent offense goes against a weakened Bear D. The return of Vasher & Tillman helps, but the absence of Harris & Brown is apparent.

The Bears only collected 3 sacks vs the pathetic Squaks who allowed 42 this year. Will they get any vs the Saint O line which allowed only 23 this year? Meanwhile, the Bears O line is allowing 3 sacks per game.

Da Bears have a weak strength of victory & schedule, yet they have thrown ints, fumbled and stumbled their way into a home title game. So, Bear fans better pray for some strong swirling winds off the lake and perhaps some snow.

This would naturally ground the Saints aerial attack, as the Bears D could not. This would also prevent Grossman from throwing ints and force the game into the trenches where the Bears could just run & defend the run.

In a one dimensional game, Da Bears win. And the odds makers know this, thats why Da Bears opened as a 1 point favorite at home. So, barring an act of god to save Da Bears from themselves....

Our pick (conditional on game time weather) NO +2.5 and to WIN. Tomorrow the AFC.

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