NFL Week 12 picks against the spread

Last week was highlighted by the best game we’ve seen in a long time. This week, there is no such matchup. But there is Thanksgiving football. So we will tell you how to bet for Thursday’s games while your uncle tells you about he’s making a million dollars in his new scheme.

Can you say saved by the spread? In five differentNFL Week 11 matchups, the favorite won the game, but lost in the spread. That’s extremely hard to do, but a lot of those matchups you could see coming.

The spreads were very much influenced by the previous week’s matchup. The Ravens were probably getting too many points with Lamar Jackson making his first start against the Cincinnati Bengals. Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Steelers were trailing the Jacksonville Jaguars the entire game, but came back to win by a nose. Then, you have the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams game. Somehow, they scored over 100 points, but still kept it a three point game.

All this ends up meaning is we get to chip away at our deficit week by week. This week, there are three Thursday games. That really makes things tough to predict. Short notice brings out craziness in NFL games. Then, there are some bad matchups this week. Bad matchups usually mean there’s an opportunity to make some real money.

Last Week: 7-6
This Season: 72-78-6

As usual, we get our lines from the sportsbook at Westgate.

Chicago Bears (-3) @ Detroit Lions

This may be one of the hardest games to choose of the weekend. It should be easy, right? The Chicago Bears are just a better team than the Detroit Lions. The issue with that thinking is you’re ignoring the ridiculous turnaround time the Bears now face.

The Bears were forced to play until close to midnight Eastern Standard Time on Sunday night. Now, they play at noon on Thursday afternoon. That’s a mere 84 hours in between football games. How can the Bears play on that short a turnaround? Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky is not expected to play. Backup Chase Daniel is supposed to play instead. The 32-year-old Daniel will be making the third start of his career.

The Lions are coming off a big win against the Carolina Panthers. It keeps any semblance of playoff hopes alive. The team is 4-6, but things could be worse. However, the one thing that’s really going to hurt them is the injury to Kerryon Johnson. He will miss this week’s game, which will grind the offense to a halt.

Chicago 21 Detroit 14