The only two games that may be affected by rainfall this week are the two primetime contests to be played tonight and tomorrow night. The Denver Broncos host the Minnesota Vikings in the Sunday Night Football matchup while the Monday Night Football encounter pits a rematch of last year’s Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles at Arrowhead Stadium.
Ten rookie quarterbacks have started games for NFL teams this season, which is already an all-time record and we’ve only negotiated half the regular season. Today, a couple rookies will relinquish their starting roles with the return of the veterans listed first on their teams depth chart. From our perspective, the most important addition of a veteran regaining his starting role for his team is Matthew Stafford in Los Angeles.
The Rams won the Super Bowl two years ago in Stafford’s first year in Los Angeles, then compiled a record last season that was the worst ever for a defending Super Bowl Champion. A series of injuries crippled the Rams most of the 2022 season and they finished with a dismal five wins and 12 losses.
This year, they looked to rebound from that down year and got off to a solid start when Stafford led Los Angeles to a road win over the favored Seattle Seahawks on opening day. The Seahawks would have been favored again today if Stafford was not able to return from the injury that has sidelined him this month. The opening line on this game had the visiting Seahawks a 2½ point favorite, but when it was announced that Stafford would be back behind center and running the Rams offense, the line shifted to the Rams favored by two points.
That move appears warranted to us, but another veteran replacing a rookie seems a bit more sketchy.
In Chicago, Justin Fields has recovered enough from the injured thumb on his throwing hand to move back into the starting role for the Bears when they meet the Detroit Lions today at Ford Field. His replacement for the prior four games, Tyson Bagent, guided Chicago to a pair of wins. It is worth noting that once Fields was announced as today’s starter, the line on the underdog Bears dropped from 10 points to 7½. It has crept back up a half point this morning and currently sits with the Lions favored by eight points.
The line dropped because Fields is starting, but it is worth noting that in his last 16 starts for the Bears, Fields has compiled a 1 and 15 record. Half the wins Bagent collected in his four starts.
Go figure.
The public has checked in with their three most bet teams of the week, and they aren’t buying the Fields dip and are taking the Lions as their third most bet game of the week. The public’s favorite play of Week 11 is the Los Angeles Chargers (-3) over the Green Bay Packers, followed by the Dallas Cowboys (-10½) over the Carolina Panthers and the Lions (-8) over the Bears.
The Qoxhi Week 11 selections are now posted on this site, and if a Bullet Play develops in the final hour leading up to the day’s first kickoff, that game will be added to the list of recommendations by 9:45 a.m. Pacific Time.