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Griese no help to pitiful Bears as favorites fall

A change of quarterbacks did the Chicago Bears no good. A bad team with Rex Grossman looked the same with Brian Griese, who continued to guide the Bears in the wrong direction.

With eight home underdogs in the NFL on Sunday, a few favorites were sure to get ambushed. By the end of the day, six road teams laying points were outright losers.

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The second-biggest favorite on the board, the San Diego Chargers, also went down. The Chargers, laying 12 points at home, completely collapsed in the second half of a 30-16 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Chicago, a 21/2-point road favorite, unraveled in the fourth quarter and fell 37-27 to the Detroit Lions as Griese was intercepted three times.

“After this week, it’s back to the doghouse for the Chargers and Bears,” Sunset Station sports book director Micah Roberts said. “Those teams are definitely not on the fan favorite’s list to bet on anymore.”

Underdogs went 9-4 in Week 4, and none of the nine winners needed the points. Arizona, Atlanta, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and the New York Giants won as home underdogs. Tampa Bay, Kansas City and Oakland were the road underdogs to win.

“The road favorites did extremely well last year,” Roberts said. “It’s good to see it kind of evolve back to where the home ‘dogs are showing some value. What it does is it makes it tougher to handicap.”

Chicago, minus four starters on defense and hampered by poor quarterback play, does not resemble the defending NFC champion.

The Bears (1-3) allowed a league-record 34 points in the fourth quarter. The Lions (3-1) returned one of Griese’s interceptions for a touchdown.

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“Griese comes in against one of the league’s worst pass defenses and looks that bad? Grossman wasn’t playing and the Lions’ defense is terrible, and those were the positives people were seeing,” Roberts said.

The betting public unwisely backed the Bears and Chargers but was right in showing support for double-digit home favorites Dallas and Indianapolis.

The Cowboys, who closed as 14-point favorites, slaughtered the St. Louis Rams, 35-7. Tony Romo put on another show by passing for 339 yards and three touchdowns and also rushing for a score.

The Colts, 101/2-point favorites, overcame a 10-0 deficit to defeat the Denver Broncos 38-20 as Peyton Manning passed for three touchdowns.

Professional bettors sided with home underdogs Arizona and Minnesota, and split those decisions.

The Cardinals, getting 51/2 points, handed the Pittsburgh Steelers their first loss, 21-14.

The Vikings, 1-point underdogs, became Brett Favre’s latest victim as he passed for 344 yards and two touchdowns in the Packers’ 23-16 victory.

Green Bay is off to a 4-0 start and hosts the Bears next week. The Packers opened as 3-point favorites.

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In other attractive Week 5 matchups, Denver is a 11/2-point home favorite over San Diego and Indianapolis is a 10-point home favorite over Tampa Bay.

In tonight’s game, the undefeated New England Patriots are 8-point road favorites over the Cincinnati Bengals. The total is 531/2.

“We’ve had a tremendous amount of action on the game because of the Patriots,” Roberts said.

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