Sunday Night Football in Week 9 delivers a rare quarterback showcase, as Tampa Bay's Baker Mayfield and Chicago's Caleb Williams, both Heisman Trophy winners and both selected first overall in the NFL Draft, square off when the Buccaneers meet the Bears.
Williams is beginning to produce an MVP-level season and has Chicago looking like a real offense again, while Mayfield's year has been more uneven, in large part because of injury issues. Even so, Mayfield has settled in as Tampa Bay's franchise quarterback after a more laborious journey, and he has a reputation for showing out in prime-time games.
The Bears enter as 6-point favorites in the latest Week 9 odds from DraftKings Sportsbook, and the expert's top play is Chicago minus the points. The case starts with Jeffery Simmons now in the fold on the defensive line, a move that has shored up Chicago's front and made the team look genuinely dangerous on both sides of the ball.
The offense was already operating at an elite level, with Williams thriving in his second year running Ben Johnson's system. Tampa Bay is tough against the run, but the expert's view is that the Bears will be extremely hard to slow down once they have a lead, and this could be the week Chicago's Super Bowl chances become a serious talking point.
Among the player props on the board, Luther Burden III going Over 65.5 receiving yards at -113 on FanDuel stands out. Burden has been flat-out awesome this season and has lived up to his potential, and the expert sees a favorable matchup against Tampa Bay's secondary, especially if the game turns into a shootout. With Burden's reception prop of 4.5 heavily juiced to the Over, the yardage number is considered the better look.
The other featured prop is Mayfield Over 16.5 rushing yards at -112 on DraftKings. Prime-time Mayfield is described as a spot worth attacking with his rushing yards, and with Chicago suddenly able to disrupt up the middle, the expert expects him to be frisky with his legs and take off regularly. As a 6-point underdog, Mayfield should be throwing often, which means more dropbacks, more pressure and, typically, more rushing attempts from a sneaky mobile quarterback.
For anytime touchdown value, Colston Loveland at +165 gets the nod. Loveland saw his two-game touchdown streak snapped last week, but his usage has remained elite, as it has been all season. Tampa Bay profiles as what the expert calls a 'pass funnel,' though not particularly toward tight ends, and Loveland has been peppered with targets in the red zone heading into a game that projects as higher scoring.
The longer shot is Kenneth Gainwell at +380. With Simmons anchoring the Bears' defensive line, the expert expects Gainwell to get really involved in the passing game, particularly in the red zone, where his ability to score in multiple ways and his role in the short-yardage passing attack make him an appealing option.
