We might not be ready to move onto next week yet, but next week isn’t any normal week, so you’ll understand if we move away from the eternally hapless Chicago Bears quicker than usual.
Next Sunday night, the Green Bay Packers welcome the Seattle Seahawks to Lambeau Field. You, me, and the Packers have all been waiting for this game since the schedule came out. As it turns out now, the Seahawks themselves are probably chomping at the bit to get to Sunday. A loss in week 1 will do that to you and with the Packers coming up next, the Seahawks are probably pretty confident they can get back on track this weekend.
Sport books are not as confident, but they aren’t exactly showing a lot of confidence in the Packers either. The early betting line at most sport books has the Packers favored by 3.
Considering every home team is granted 3 points, this essentially means the oddsmakers believe that bettors will be evenly split in this game. That might be surprising considering the Packers haven’t lost at Lambeau since the 2013 playoffs, dominated most of the NFC Championship game at Seattle, and Seattle is still without safety Kam Chancellor, who’s holding out.
The lack of Chancellor was felt in devastating fashion when the offensively-challenged St. Louis Rams put up 34 points to beat the Seahawks in overtime in week 1. The Seahawks’ vaunted defense looked confused several times during the game, including on Tavon Austin’s 16-yard run to put the Rams on the board. In addition, Chancellor’s replacement fell down and gave up the 37-yard touchdown catch by Lance Kendricks that tied the game near the end of regulation.
On top of the defensive issues, Seattle had problems along the offensive line. Neither Max Unger nor James Carpenter are part of that unit anymore and their replacements struggled to contain perhaps the best defensive line in football. Russell Wilson was sacked six times and Marshawn Lynch was dropped for a loss on the 4th and 1 in overtime that ended the game.
However, the Rams are a division rival that typically give the Seahawks a good game and there is a big difference between the Rams’ defensive line and the Packers’. It is possible that bettors are very aware of this and it is also evident that the last four minutes of the NFC Championship game weigh more in people’s minds than the first 56 minutes did.
The smart money says John Schneider gets Chancellor signed before Sunday. After all, losing to the Rams is one thing, but losing to the Packers is something else.