Buccaneers vs. Bears: Staff picks Nick Foles vs. Tom Brady in rematch

Philly Special.

OK, we got that out of the way. Now don’t expect Tom Brady to bring it up if he chats with Nick Foles before Tampa Bay’s game against Chicago on Thursday night.

Of course, Brady now works for the Buccaneers, not the Patriots who lost to Foles — now a Bear, then an Eagle — for the 2017 NFL title in great part because Foles caught a short pass from tight end Trey Burton for a touchdown. That trick play has become legend in Philadelphia, taboo in New England.

Still, it’s fun to look back at it for most folks, if not for Brady who, coincidentally, dropped a pass in that Super Bowl.

» READ MORE: Bears-Buccaneers means Nick Foles vs. Tom Brady, and that means sweet memories for Eagles fans | Mike Sielski

Neither quarterback figures to be running any pass routes in this matchup. The Bucs are plenty happy with their six-time NFL champion standing in the pocket and picking apart defenses, and they have won three in a row. The Bears benched Mitchell Trubisky for Foles despite being 3-0; the QB wasn’t enough of a contributor to that start to keep his job.

Enter Foles, whose Bears lost to Indianapolis on Sunday. Look for Foles to grow into the job and to be given time by coach Matt Nagy to help awaken the offense.

“I talked this morning a little bit about calibrating us as an offense, Nick as a quarterback getting calibrated, myself with him getting calibrated in regards to working through this process,” Nagy said earlier this week. “We’ve got to get on that and roll. It’s time.”

If you’re wondering why the Chicago-Tampa Bay game dropped like a rock, from an open of -6 all the way down to -3.5, ask the sharps/wise guys/pros. Apparently, they’re all over Da Bears, thinking that, actually, not sure what they’re thinking. So, are you gonna follow the money?

Both teams are 3-1, and obviously, Tom Brady is light-years ahead of Nick Foles, but there are significant injury problems. TB12 will most likely be without RBs Leonard Fournette and LeSean McCoy, as well as WRs Chris Goodwin, Mike Evans and TE O.J. Howard. I would have had a lean to Da Bears if I can find them at +6. It was as low as +3.5, and I’m not going to open the wallet for that.

When we picked this game earlier Wednesday, we had a line of Tampa Bay -5.

— Vegas Vic

Staff picks:

Ed Barkowitz: Buccaneers

Les Bowen: Buccaneers

Paul Domowitch: Buccaneers

Marcus Hayes: Bears (Best Bet)

Jeff McLane: Bears

EJ Smith: Buccaneers

Vegas Vic: Bears

Entering Week 5/Best bets in parentheses

1. EJ Smith (1-3), 36-25-1, .589

2. Vegas Vic (1-3), 33-28-1, .540

3. Jeff McLane (3-1), 32-29-1, .524

4. Les Bowen (3-1), 31-30-1, .508

5. Marcus Hayes (2-2), 30-31-1, .492

6. Paul Domowitch (3-1), 29-32-1, .476

7. Ed Barkowitz (2-2), 28-33-1, .460

Last week

Jeff McLane 8-5-1, 0-1 Best Bet

Vegas Vic 7-6-1, 1-0

EJ Smith 7-6-1, 0-1

Ed Barkowitz 6-7-1, 1-0

Les Bowen 5-8-1, 1-0

Paul Domowitch 5-8-1, 1-0

Marcus Hayes 5-8-1, 0-1

Note: The New England-Kansas City game was taken off the board last week after Cam Newton was declared out after testing positive for COVID-19.