*!LiveStream#? Chicago Bears vs New Orleans Saints , @Live®

• !LiveStream#? Chicago Bears vs New Orleans Saints , @Live®

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Visit Live Direct: [[ https://tinyurl.com/nfl-playoffs-2021-live ]]

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New Orleans is led by quarterback Drew Brees, who narrowly missed throwing for 3,000 yards this season. For the year, Brees completed 275 of 390 passes for 2,942 yards and 24 touchdowns despite missing significant time due to a rib injury. He was intercepted six times and posted a rating of 106.4.

Another weapon is quarterback Taysom Hill, who can hurt defenses in many ways. When Brees was out with injury, he took over most of the duties under center. He finished the season completing 88 of 121 passes for 928 yards and four touchdowns for a 98.8 rating.

The model, which simulates every NFL game 10,000 times, is up almost $7,900 for $100 players on top-rated NFL picks since its inception five-plus years ago. It is a sizzling 23–13 on top-rated NFL picks this season, returning well over $800. The model also enters the 2021 NFL Playoffs on an incredible 119–77 run on top-rated NFL picks that dates back to the 2017 season.

The model ranked in the Top 10 on NFLPickWatch three of the past four years on straight-up NFL picks and beat more than 95 percent of CBS Sports office pool players three times during that span. Anyone who has followed it is way up.

QB MITCHELL TRUBISKY passed for 303 yards & TD vs. 0 INTs for 89.6 rating in only career postseason start (1/6/19 — NFC-W vs. Phi.). Passed for 251 yards & 2 TDs vs. 0 INTs for 86.3 rating in his last start vs. NO (10/20/19). Aims for his 3rd in row on road with 95+ rating.

RB DAVID MONTGOMERY ranked 5th in NFL with career-high 1,508 scrimmage yards (1,070 rush, 438 rec.) & had career-high 10 TDs (8 rush, 2 rec.) in 2020. Is 5th RB in Chi. franchise history with 1,500+ scrimmage yards & 10+ TDs in single season. Was 1 of 3 RBs (DALVIN COOK & DERRICK HENRY) with 7+ games (7) of 110+ scrimmage yards & TD.

WR ALLEN ROBINSON led team with career-high 102 receptions & had 1,250 rec. yards, his 3rd-career 1,000+ yard season. Had 10 receptions for 143 yards & TD catch in only postseason game (1/6/19 — NFC-W vs. Phi.). Had 6 receptions for 87 yards & rec.

TD in Week 8 meeting. WR DARNELL MOONEY ranked 5th among rookies with 61 receptions. TE JIMMY GRAHAM ranked 2nd among NFC TEs with 8 rec. TDs in 2020. Had 386 receptions for 4,752 rec. yards & 51 TDs in 5 seasons (2010–14) with NO.

LB KHALIL MACK led team with 9 sacks. Is 1 of 2 (AARON DONALD) with 8+ sacks in each of past 6 seasons. Has 3 TFL in 2 career postseason games. Had sack & FF in Week 8 meeting. LB ROQUAN SMITH had career-high 139 tackles & ranked 2nd in NFL with career-high 18 TFL.

Had INT in only career playoff game (1/6/19 — NFC-W vs. Phi.). Had 11 tackles, 2 TFL & PD in Week 8 meeting. LB DANNY TREVATHAN had 4th-career season with 100+ tackles (112). S EDDIE JACKSON had FF in Week 8 meeting.

Notably, Chicago was the NFL’s №22 scoring team in the regular season, averaging just 23.2 points per game. However, Chicago’s offense heated up down the stretch by posting 31.2 points per game over the final five weeks of the season.

The optimist will take solace is a vast scoring improvement which coincided with David Montgomery’s resurgence and improved play by Mitchell Trubisky. The pessimist will point out that several of those offensive outbursts came against flat-out horrendous defenses, and that when the Bears had a chance to show their newfound legitimacy, they stumbled badly against the Packers.

The Bears made changes in who’s handling the offense and how it’s run, and everything changed late in the season after struggling through disastrous losses against Green Bay and Detroit.

The offensive line started playing better, David Montgomery became a force, and Mitchell Trubisky — when not having to deal with graduate level NFL quarterbacking — has been solid.

All of a sudden, the offense exploded with its best run of the year before running into Green Bay. In this, run well, have a chance to pull off the win.

The Chicago Bears qualified for the playoffs for the second time in three years under coach Matt Nagy. But this season has a different feel than two years ago.

The 2018 Bears won nine of their last 10 regular-season games and finished 12–4, winning their first NFC North title since 2010. They then suffered a stunning 16–15 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the wild-card round.

The 2020 Bears started 5–1, lost six straight, rebounded with three consecutive victories and then fell to the Green Bay Packers in the season finale. They earned the №7 seed in the expanded playoff format when the Arizona Cardinals lost to the Los Angeles Rams.

The Bears’ reward: a game against quarterback Drew Brees the №2 seed Saints in New Orleans on Sunday.

Teams familiar with the postseason will clash when the Chicago Bears take on the New Orleans Saints in an NFC Wild Card matchup on Sunday. The Bears (8–8) squeaked into the 2021 NFL playoffs as the seventh seed following last Sunday’s 35–16 loss to the rival Green Bay Packers.

The Saints (12–4) grabbed the second seed in the conference after cruising to a 33–7 win over the Carolina Panthers. This will be the third postseason matchup between the Bears and Saints, but first in New Orleans.

Kickoff from the Superdome is set for 4:40 p.m. ET. The Saints are 10-point favorites in the latest Bears vs. Saints odds from William Hill Sportsbook, while the over-under is 47. Before making any Saints vs.

The AFC was deep enough to field seven quality playoff teams in the first year of the new format. The NFC? Well, not so much. Chicago doesn’t belong in this dance and will be exposed by a Saints team that’s on a mission to finally get over the hump. The Saints have lost back-to-back home playoff games to Goff and Kirk Cousins. There’s no way Mitch Trubisky makes it three in a row, right? I just can’t see it happening.

Saints quarterback Drew Brees does not look like the perennial Pro Bowl player that he once was. Saints running back Alvin Kamara should be activated off the Reserve/COVID-19 list.

If he plays anything close to the six-touchdown performance he had on Christmas Day, the Bears are in trouble. Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky will have to make plays against the fourth-ranked defense in the league, and running back David Montgomery will have to find a way to break some long runs. That’s not happening on Sunday.

This could be Drew Brees’ last postseason in the NFL. With the Saints pushing for one last postseason run, New Orleans should be ready to handle whatever Mitch Trubisky and the Bears are dishing out. This should be a blowout if Brees is on point. Alvin Kamara should run wild to the end zone at least twice.

The Bears did a good job this season of beating bad teams. The Saints are not a bad team. And Mitchell Trubisky is still a bad quarterback, even if he fooled some folks for a few weeks.

Drew Brees might not be able to throw the ball deep anymore, but Alvin Kamara is unstoppable, their defense is stellar and Michael Thomas could even be coming back. New Orleans will be the Packers’ greatest challenger.

Every few years, it seems, a team that has no business being in the playoffs but gets there anyway thanks to another team’s loss advances in the first round against great odds. The Bears will not be that team.

In sizing up this game, we’re faced with assessing what an unpredictable, inconsistent team will do against one of the NFL’s most complete squads. Sure, the Bears started hot before enduring a multi-month free fall and a subsequent December rebound. Still, I’m not so sure there was much of a difference in the team that started the season 5–1 and the one that slumped to 5–7, so there are two possibilities, as I see it:

Last week, the Bears couldn’t hold up their end of the bargain. Green Bay ran away from Chicago late in the fourth quarter on the way to a 35–16 win that put the Bears’ fate in the hands of the Los Angeles Rams. Fortunately for Matt Nagy’s team, the Rams took care of business against Arizona, putting a team that previously endured a six-game losing streak into the NFC’s postseason field.

The only question in this game: Will the Saints cover the spread? Yes, they probably will. Bears coach Matt Nagy deserves a lot of credit for getting into the playoffs and going 8–8 this season with quarterbacks Nick Foles and Mitch Trubisky.

Really, though, the Bears would’ve been better off continuing to lose, so they could draft a quarterback high this spring. (The Bears were 5–7 at one point, and losers of six straight.) Now, they might not be able to get their quarterback of the future.

Also leading the Bears is running back David Montgomery, who carried 247 times for 1,070 yards and eight touchdowns. He had five explosive plays and converted 59 first downs. He also caught 54 passes for 438 yards and two scores.

QB DREW BREES has 4,967 pass yards (310.4 per game) & 34 TDs vs. 12 INTs for 99.6 rating in 16 career postseason starts. Passed for 280 yards & 2 TDs vs. 0 INTs for 109.8 rating in Week 8 meeting. Had 14 TDs (12 pass, 2 rush) vs. 2 INTs for 100.8 rating in 7 home starts this season.

RB ALVIN KAMARA led NFL with 21 TDs (16 rush, 5 rec.) & ranked 3rd in scrimmage yards (1,688). Led all RBs with career-high 83 receptions. Had 9 receptions & 163 scrimmage yards (96 rec., 67 rush) in Week 8 meeting. Has 100+ scrimmage yards in 3 of his last 4 postseason games. RB LATAVIUS MURRAY is 1 of 2 RBs (TODD GURLEY) with 5+ TDs in each of past 6 seasons.

WR MICHAEL THOMAS has 38 receptions for 493 yards (98.6 per game) & 3 rec. TDs in 5 career postseason games. Had 9 receptions for 131 yards in his last game vs. Chi. (10/20/19).

Aims for his 3rd in row vs. Chi. with 7+ catches & 75+ rec. yards. WR EMMANUEL SANDERS had 11 receptions for 98 yards & TD catch in his last game vs. Chi. (9/15/19 w/ Den.). Is 1 of 3 WRs (T.Y. HILTON & JULIO JONES) with 500+ rec. yards in each of past 9 seasons. TE JARED COOK has 22 rec. TDs since 2018, 2nd-most among TEs.

DE CAMERON JORDAN is only player with 7+ sacks in each of past 9 seasons. Has 5.5 sacks, 8 TFL & 4 PD in 9 career postseason games. Aims for his 3rd in row in postseason & 3rd in row vs. Chi. with sack. DE TREY HENDRICKSON tied-2nd in NFL with career-high 13.5 sacks. LB DEMARIO DAVIS has 3 PD, 2 TFL & INT in 3 career postseason games. Was 1 of 5 LBs with 100+ tackles (119) & 10+ TFL (10) in 2020.

You have probably heard this week about the first meeting between these two teams, a 26–23 Saints overtime victory at Soldier Field back on November 1.

There will be some notable differences this Sunday. Nick Foles is no longer the Bears’ starting quarterback, while the Saints will have wide receivers Michael Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders on the field this time around. It’s not a stretch to say that both teams should be “better,” but what does that mean in terms of the result?

A week ago, I found myself slowly buying into the Bears. Even after gaining just 69 yards on 22 carries a week ago, David Montgomery showed promise down the stretch. Over his final five games, he rushed for 495 yards on 105 carries (4.71 ypc) and seven touchdowns. Since regaining the starting job, Trubisky completed 70.1% percent of his pass attempts for nearly 1,500 yards and 10 touchdowns against just 5 interceptions. That stat line is good for a 96.0 quarterback rating.

But then, well, there was that Week 17 clunker, which was a dose of reality. The problem is, this team has simply not shown the ability to seriously contend against above average opponents. As noted above, the Bears are just 1–6 against winning teams (and postseason teams), with the lone victory a 20–19 triumph over Tampa Bay back in October.

As for New Orleans, the Saints were 3–2 against postseason teams, including a pair of impressive victories over Tampa Bay and the overtime win against Chicago. The two losses? A wild 37–30 loss to Green Bay back in Week 2 and a tough 32–29 loss to Kansas City in Week 15.

New Orleans has allowed more than 115 rushing yards three times and lost all three games. Chicago has run for more than 115 yards in five of the last six games.

Before all of this, the Bears were able to push New Orleans hard in a Week 8 overtime loss with the defense doing a decent job of holding down the Saint passing attack from going off, and it held the ground attack to just 122 yards.

Yes, everything is supposed to be fine and everyone is expected to be back, but the New Orleans running backs are coming off of a stretch of being out thanks to the COVID protocol. If this game was played on Saturday, Alvin Kamara and others wouldn’t be able to play.

Can the Bears win Sunday in New Orleans? Sure. It’s the NFL. Have they shown enough over the last four months to forecast such an upset? Nope. It will take a near-perfect effort to topple an opponent that is pretty complete across all three phases. And near-perfect efforts haven’t been the calling card of the 2020 Bears. A playoff season ends with a losing record.

The game has a lot of injury and COVID-19 uncertainties, but it seems like a daunting challenge for a struggling Bears defense if they have to overcome the loss of inside linebacker Roquan Smith — especially if Saints running back Alvin Kamara and wide receiver Michael Thomas return.

Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry, and company have proven to be as tough and explosive as anyone and can certainly go toe-to-toe with the league’s best. It may be up to the Ravens’ offense to find a lead early and keep adding to it in order to prevail and come away with their first playoff victory in the Lamar Jackson era.

That said, I think the defense is playing some of its best football and should be able to stifle Tennessee’s offense enough to help in that overall effort. Basically, Baltimore has found the fight it seemed to be missing last postseason and the Titans won’t know what hit them.

This number has mostly held firm at 54.5. After opening there, it did jump up a half-point to 55 but has since come back down to its original number. For what it’s worth, these two teams have an average total of 47 between their matchup earlier this season in Week 11 and their divisional round contest last playoffs. Between them this season, the Over is 19–12–1.

Tennessee overs went 12–3–1 during the regular season, which was tied with Las Vegas for the best in the NFL. The Titans’ contests averaged 58.1 points per game (30.7 PPG, 27.4 PPG allowed), which was the highest in the NFL.

Over their last eight contests, the over is 7–1. With Ryan Tannehill as their starter, Tennessee Overs are 22–6–1. That said, with both of these teams being more than happy to run the football, there is an avenue where this game turns into a low-scoring ground attack so Over bettors should be a bit cautious.