NFL Week 14 Free Pick: New England Patriots vs. Chicago Bears

Thanks to New England’s big time 45-3 win on Monday Night Football at home against the New York Jets last week, it holds its own destiny in the AFC East and knows that its magic number is four between its wins and Jets’ losses to lock down the top spot in the division. The same magic number is in place to win the top seed in the conference over the Pittsburgh Steelers or the winner of the AFC North. The Pats clinch a playoff berth with a win on Sunday and would become the first team in the league to do so. The prospective MVP of the league is leading the way for Head Coach Bill Belichick, as QB Tom Brady has clearly been the top man in the NFL every step of the way. Brady has 27 TDs against just four picks on the campaign, the second best TD/INT ratio in football. He also has 3,029 yards passing, and has done so with a rag tag group of no name receivers. Let’s be honest. Did you ever think that a man throwing the ball to Aaron Hernandez, Rob Gronkowski, Brandon Tate, Wes Welker, and Deion Branch was going to win an MVP award? The only bugaboo for New England is that its defense isn’t stellar, though the unit did come up with aces against the Jets on MNF.

The Bears just keep finding ways to win games, and though no one wants to admit that they have one of the best teams in the NFC, that really is the case. This team has to win at least three more guarantee itself a bid into the postseason, as even an 11-5 record might not be good enough in this conference. As for right now though, the Bears control their own destiny for a first round bye in the playoffs as the leaders of the NFC North. Defense has been the key. Though this unit did allow 26 points to the Philadelphia Eagles two weeks ago and 20 last week to the Detroit Lions, it has really been the glue to keep this team together. The only truly bad outing was the 23 point outburst by the Seattle Seahawks here at home, but the rest of the season, this ‘D’ has been outstanding. The unit ranks No. 3 in the league overall at 300.3 yards per game and is keeping foes to just 16.0 points per game. On the other side of the ball, things are still struggling, but QB Jay Cutler is doing just enough to put enough points on the board. The Bears are only averaging 300.3 yards and 20.5 points per game.

Once again, you’re probably thinking, “Ah, THIS is the week that the Bears are finally going to fall flat!” And once again, you’ll be wrong. This team was supposed to be the one that finally lost to the Buffalo Bills. It was supposed to be just another stepping stone for the Minnesota Vikings to get back into the playoff race. It was supposed to find a way to lose to a Miami Dolphins playing with their third string quarterback. It was supposed to get smacked by QB Michael Vick and his Philadelphia Eagles. In those games, Chicago went 4-0 SU and 3-0-1 ATS. Chalk up a sixth straight outright victory this week in the biggest game of the year for the Bears.