NFL Week 14 Best Bets: They Are Who We Thought They Were

Half a score and seven years ago (17 for the non-mathletes), a grateful nation rejoiced as one of the truly elite moments in the history came to be.

On a Monday night in the desert, the Chicago Bears completed one of the most improbable comebacks in NFL history. The Bears trailed Arizona 20-0 at half, and 23-3 with just seconds left in the third quarter. Amazingly, the Bears won 24-23 — without scoring an offensive touchdown.

The Bears scored twice on Cardinals fumbles, then a peak-of-his-powers Devin Hester took a punt to the house with less than three minutes remaining to give the Bears the lead. “They are who we thought they were” was Cards’ coach Dennis Green’s reaction to the gutting defeat. The Bears went on to the Super Bowl. Arizona finished 5-11. Not too good.

The moral: when a team shows you what they are, believe them. We can apply this lesson when looking at week 14 for our NFL best bets.

The New York Jets are having a moment. On Sunday, their offense managed just two field goals in a loss to Atlanta. On Monday, news came across about the status of former first-round savior Zach Wilson.

Wilson was benched and made inactive for the last two games. Tim Boyle got the nod, before he was benched for Trevor Siemian. Nothing has helped, and now it appears Aaron Rodgers will not have a contender to come back to around Christmas.

Houston will have to adjust to losing Tank Dell, but the Jets are a tire fire and appear ready to pack it in.

Play: Texans -6.5 (-110 on Caesars)

About those Falcons: They might have found something.

If nothing else, props to the ATL for the Montell Jordan (an Atlanta-area pastor) drop.

Point is, the Falcons are playing their best football of the season and are now alone in first in the NFC South — at 6-6, but still. In week 7, Atlanta won in Tampa basically without Bijan Robinson (one carry, three yards). Now the Dirty Birds come home to face the Bucs, with a chance to put the division on lock.

Play: Falcons -2.5 (-110 on FanDuel)

Remember Jumanji? No, not the Kevin Hart/Dwayne Johnson one; the OG.

That was most people when we saw Joe Flacco lead the Browns down the field on their opening drive. Flacco wasn’t great, and his interception came on a reckless throw, but he was for the most part capable.

Now they host Jacksonville, hitting the road on a short week and leaving behind Trevor Lawrence, who suffered an ankle injury towards the end of a deflating Monday night loss to the Bengals.

As we have discussed previously, Jacksonville’s weakness is their pass defense — Jake Browning looked like Joe Burrow, throwing for over 300 yards vs. the Jags. The Browns have shown that when you can get the ball to their pass catchers, they can do some damage.

Play: Browns -1.5 (-110 on DraftKings)

The Detroit Lions are showing us what they are. On defense, this is not good for the Lions. Detroit has allowed 28.8 points per game in their last six. That includes a 31-26 win over Chicago three weeks ago. The Bears had the ball and a 26-14 lead with 5:00 to go.

Since then, Chicago won in Minnesota, then had their bye. Believe it or not, this is a game between two teams going in opposite directions — and that favors the Bears.

Play: Bears +3.5 (-110 on PointsBet)

The Las Vegas Raiders will likely not make the playoffs. They are led by an interim head coach and remain tied for last in their division.

Let that not distract you from the fact that the Raiders have won four of their last five games, with the only loss being to Kansas City. Vegas led that game 14-0 before the Chiefs’ offense woke up.

As for the Vikings, well midnight might have struck for Josh Dobbs.

That was the last time we saw Dobbs. Was it an aberration? Maybe. Are we counting on it? Nope.

Play: Raiders +3 (-110 on BetMGM)

LAST WEEK: 4-1

SEASON (Including GOTW): 53-44-1