NFL - Chicago (3-3) at Tampa Bay (4-2)

Sky Sports 2, Sunday October 23rd, 6pm

There’s always one team in a season that seems to beat my brains in, and this year it’s the Bears.

This is a tough game to pick, as Chicago suddenly decided to protect Cutler and he showed he can get it done. The Vikes’ pass rush, which has been so good this year, was blunted and the rest is expensive history.

The Bears used Matt Spaeth (usually a TE) as an extra OT and Cutler had the time he needed; this all needs to be qualified by the fact that Minnesota were awful and didn’t attack Cutler with anything like the dynamism they have on the defensive line. The Bucs’ can bring pressure, but they tend to have problems getting home - if they do though, they can win this game, because Chicago doesn’t have much downfield, so expect Tampa to bring everything.

Matt Fort continues to produce, both on the ground and catching out of the backfield. The Tampa front seven is quick and aggressive and Forte will have to work hard on the ground. If Gerald McCoy is back, it’ll firm up the Bucs even further, although reports are that he’s only done light work this week and is a game time decision.

Josh Freeman has been dangerously inconsistent this season; only to turn in a 23/41/303 yards and 2 TD performance last week against the Saints. There are similarities between the two passing offenses on show, with Mike Williams, Arrelious Benn, Kellen Winslow and their buddies not getting it done deep, like the Chicago receivers.

Earnest Graham picked up the run game nicely when LeGarrette Blount went down, but he’s facing a run D that again, turned itself around last week. The Bears were struggling against the run, despite their personnel, and then they promptly limited AP to 39 yards.

These are two teams who appear to have shifted gears in the last week and deciding who has genuinely brought a different team, with momentum, to London is very difficult, and for that reason I wouldn’t recommend getting heavily involved here.

One factor that might play here is that Tampa Bay arrived early in the UK to prepare, whereas the Bears arrived on Friday. This last-minute approach has back-fired before and that may give the Bucs’ a crucial edge.

As you can probably tell, I’m in the dark here, but on balance, I’ll take the points.

Pick: Bucs +2 @ 1.91; -110; 10/11

Pick: 1^st TD Mike Williams @ 13.00; 1200; 12/1

Pick: Anytime TD Devin Hester @ 2.88; 187; 15/8