What a difference a week can make.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were six-point underdogs to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday according to BetMGM, but came away with a 20-17 victory to start the season 1-0. The Chicago Bears, meanwhile, were favored by 1.5 points heading into their Week 1 matchup against the Green Bay Packers but got blown out 38-20 in a game that was farther apart than the final score indicated.
Naturally, as a result, Bucs stock is higher and Bears stock is lower. Tampa Bay is set to host Chicago at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday for Week 2 of the NFL season, and BetMGM has the Bucs opening as three-point favorites heading into the matchup. The over-under is currently set at 41.5 and the Bucs are favored on the money line bet at -155.
Tampa Bay being favored here makes sense. While the Bucs had less yards on offense than the Bears did and scored the same amount of points, the Packers had already built an insurmountable lead and thus played weaker defense towards the back end of their game. On top of that, the Bucs defense looked much, much better, forcing three turnovers on the day.
The two teams are set to face off at 1 p.m. in Tampa next Sunday.
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