NFL Early Week 7 Lines - 4 Games Worth Tracking

A quick glance at the early Week 7 lines reveals some strange abnormalities. The Patriots hit the road as mild favorites against a curious Chicago Bears squad, while the Saints and Ravens engage in a game pitting the league's best defense against one of the most prolific offenses thus far. Keep an eye on these games as the week moves along.

New England Patriots -3.5 at Chicago Bears

One of the key early Week 7 lines to watch is New England at Chicago, where the Patriots are laying -3.5 points on the road. The Patriots (4-2) had 500 total yards offense in a big 43-40 Sunday night shootout win over Kansas City to hand the Chiefs (5-1) its first loss of the season. The Bears trailed the Dolphins 7-0 at halftime, but took the lead multiple times in the second half as an unexpected shootout ensued. A wild overtime saw the Dolphins fumble at the Bears 1-yard line and Chicago miss a 52-yard field goal. Either score would have won the game, but the Dolphins got the ball last and Jason Sanders kicked a 47-yard field goal as time expired to give Miami a 31-28 victory. Chicago (3-2) is now a half-game in front of the Vikings in the NFC North entering Week 7. This is a huge litmus test for the Bears, and an even bigger challenge for the Patriots, who go from facing one of the league's worst defenses, to one of the best.

Cincinnati Bengals at Kansas City Chiefs -5.5

Kansas City hosts Cincinnati in Week 7 prime time action Sunday night. The Chiefs opened as -6.5 favorites, but were bet down to KC -5.5. Both teams were close to earning victories in Week 6 with each holding a lead in the fourth quarter. The Bengals (4-2) scored a late touchdown to take a 21-20 lead with less than 90 seconds left but could not stop Big Ben and the Steelers offense when it counted as Pittsburgh scored a touchdown with 10 seconds remaining to beat the Bengals 28-21. This Week 7 Sunday night showdown will feature two of the top 6 scoring teams with the Chiefs (35.8 PPG) and Bengals (29 PPG) battling just the the league wants with more scoring on the marquee TV games. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes leads the Chiefs passing attack, and Kansas City’s 306 passing yards per game ranks 6th in the league this season. The 58.5 opening total is the highest amongst early Week 7 lines.

Dallas Cowboys at Washington Redskins -1.5

Washington hosts Dallas in a NFC East showdown for first place on Sunday, and both the Redskins (3-2) and Cowboys (3-3) enter off solid wins in Week 6. The Redskins opened as a 1.5-point favorite in the early Week 7 lines, but with both teams gaining a lot of traction overall in sports betting, this spread is going to jump all over the map through the week. Dallas has an impressive win giving them momentum, and Washington's defense stepped up huge to steal a game from Carolina. This is going to be a tough game to get a read on, so expect a lot of line movement.

New Orleans Saints at Baltimore Ravens -2.5

Baltimore hosts New Orleans in interconference action and the Ravens opened as a 2.5-point favorite. This is another game of interest that will get plenty of betting action between first place teams with the Ravens (4-2) tied with Cincinnati in the AFC North. The Saints (4-1) lead the NFC South and had a bye in Week 6. The total in the match-up with the Ravens will be near 50 points despite Baltimore boasting the league’s No. 2 scoring defense (12.8) and No. 1 defense overall allowing just 271 yards per game and 4.4 yards per play.

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Fairway Jay is a professional handicapper based out of Las Vegas. He focuses primarily on the four majors along with college football and college basketball. You can follow him on Twitter @FairwayJay.