3. NFL Week 16 best bets: Jacksonville Jaguars +7.5
Much was made of the turn of fortune the Jaguars experienced despite losing big to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. The New York Jets’ win over the Los Angeles Rams pulled the two teams into a tie for the worst record in football, meaning the Jaguars actually hold the golden ticket to the Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes on the strength of winning the strength of schedule tiebreaker.
This sounds look good news to the fan base but the Jaguars’ players, much like the Jets before them, don’t care at all about tanking and simply want to win. Jacksonville has played plenty of close games down the stretch, covering big numbers on several occasions in tight losses.
The same phenomenon could happen this Sunday, when the Jaguars are 7.5 point home underdogs against the Chicago Bears. Mitchell Trubisky has caught fire as the Bears have won two straight games to get back into the playoff hunt but trusting him as more than a touchdown favorite on the road is very dicey.
There is still a great chance that Chicago wins outright but the Jaguars should be feisty in their home finale and keep it close. The hook is a tremendous value here so take the points with Jacksonville giving the Bears a big scare.