We are posting the early Sunday National Football League game now so you have time to wager on it before the 6:30 a.m. kickoff. By rule, we avoid these out of the country games for a couple reasons. First, while our site posts that week’s games on Sunday by 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time, I can’t see interrupting our routine to move all our research up for a single game played in a foreign country.
Second reason I almost always avoid these contests is because we have more unknowns when the participants are playing away from either of their home stadiums after a trip across the pond.
Yet, like any rule, there is a time when current situations dictate actions outside the norm. Like now, when the Chicago Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars meet in London today. This contest both offers a significant edge on our charts for one of the teams and we have a Jaguars squad that plays as often in London as the San Francisco 49ers do at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
I’m not sure exactly what the overall plan is for the NFL with these International Games. Seems the United States offers enough of a fan base to satisfy raking in huge profits. But somebody in the NFL office sees another market and more revenue and if it forces teams to fly thousands of extra miles and for us on the west coast to open Sunday action at the ungodly hour of 6:30 a.m., they see no problem.
For another reason, that only inside people know, the Jaguars has been a team that they have sent packing more than any other. This is their 12th trip to London over the past dozen seasons, playing there every season since 2013 except during the Covid year of 2020. The Jaguars have won six of their first 11 games played in London.
On Sunday, they meet a Chicago Bears team that is under the direction of rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. While there have been some years when highly touted first-year signal callers have fallen flat in their rookie season, this year we have a pair of top selected quarterbacks that are exceeding expectations.
In addition to Williams, who has the Bears, who possess a solid defense to help his cause, winning three of their first five games including a lopsided victory last Sunday over the Carolina Panthers, 36-10, the Washington Commanders lead the NFC East Division with second overall pick Jaylen Daniels putting up record numbers.
Daniels has led Dan Quinn’s team to four straight wins, a run that will be severely tested tomorrow when the Washington squad meets the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium.
For Williams, this is the first time his Bears are favored on the point spread outside the confines of Soldier Field. They also are favored over a Jaguars squad looking to find their 2024 footing, having been the last NFL team to earn a victory just last week in their conquest of the Indianapolis Colts in Jacksonville.
Trevor Lawrence, another first overall selection, snapped a personal eight game losing streak with that win last week. The string of defeats coincided with Lawrence suffering an ankle injury last year that must have inhibited his play more than anyone expected. But now, after putting up 37 points against the Colts, Lawrence appears ready to recapture his rhythm that had him lead the Jaguars to the playoffs and a postseason win in his second pro season.
The Bears off their third win in four weeks, and the Jaguars off their first win of the season, leaves the underdog Jacksonville unit the hungrier and more focused squad in this matchup.
Qoxhi Picks: Jacksonville Jaguars (+1) over Chicago Bears