Gameday is upon us yet again, and it is time to see if the Chiefs have one last push left in them as we reach the tail end of the season. A win against the Bears today theoretically keeps hope alive for the team, so let's hopefully see an all-out effort on both sides of the ball from our Chiefs.
In The Opening Line, we saw that the Bears were favored in most locales by either 8.5 or 9 points. Fast forward to today and let's see if anything has changed. Will the line go even further towards the Bears side with the news that Tyler Palko might could be will is in the running to start today? Will sharps fade the play of Caleb Hanie on the Bears side of things? Let's find out this in more in the Week 13 edition of The Closing Line.
Things have changed with the spread, as we have a situation similar to last week's against Pittsburgh. If you recall against Pitt, the universe was on them but the spread would not move, indicating some good money was coming in on the Chiefs. Let's see what it looks like this week:
12/04/11 349 Kansas City 38½ 7 36 38492 25% 39% 42% 1:00PM 350 Chicago 9 -7 36 75% 61% 58%
Once again, some interesting developments on this chart. As you can see, 38,492 (as of this morning) bets have been placed. 75% of bets have been placed on Chicago thus far, YET the spread has dropped to 7. Thus, despite the disparity in percentages, a LOT of money has come in on Kansas City. Furthermore I found this from someone I trust:
KANSAS CITY AT CHICAGO: Support for Kansas City as a big dog on the opener of +9. The line has come all the way down to +7. Some of that maybe a rush through the teaser window so sportsbooks wouldn’t have had to sweat a lot of Chicago -1.5 or -2 plays within two-teamers. I'm hearing it’s a mix…as sharps just didn’t believe Caleb Hanie is ready to lay such a high price in the NFL, and KC covered against better competition just last week, despite 4 turnovers. The total has come down a point from 38.5 to 37.5. Be sure to check the game day forecasts in the Ice Belt cities through the month of December.
So, if you believe in some of the info I gave last week and this week, things could be looking up for the Chiefs today (at least in the area of the spread).
Fantasy Football Updates:
Ruled out before Sunday: WR Miles Austin (hamstring), TE Dallas Clark (fibula), RB Tony Fiammetta (illness), WR Jacoby Ford (foot), RB Taiwan Jones (hamstring), , RB Darren McFadden (foot), WR Denarius Moore (foot), RB Adrian Peterson (ankle), RB Phillip Tanner (hamstring).
Top players we're watching
Early games (1 p.m. ET)
RB Joseph Addai (hamstring, questionable)
QB Josh Freeman (right shoulder, questionable): inactive
WR Percy Harvin (illness, questionable): active
K Sebastian Janikowski (left hamstring, questionable)
WR Julio Jones (hamstring, questionable): active
RB Michael Turner (groin, questionable): active
Late games (4 p.m. ET)
QB Sam Bradford (ankle, questionable)
RB Ahmad Bradshaw (foot, questionable)
RB Montario Hardesty (calf, questionable)
WR Mario Manningham (knee, doubtful)
Night game (8:20 p.m. ET)
RB Kevin Smith (ankle, questionable)
Steve in RI's Selections:
3-1 last week and hoping to get it again.
KC +7
Washington +3
Houston +1.5
Miami -3
Green Bay -6.5
Well folks, time to prepare for the game. I hope this helped again this week. Hopefully we can meet back here later and be celebrating a Chiefs upset win. I hope you have had a great week and I hope you enjoy your day. For now though, this has been your Week 13 installment of The Closing Line.