Partner Content | Best early NFL Week 5 picks: Bet on Vikings to beat Bears at home

The NFL didn’t disappoint in Week 4, but now it’s time to start looking ahead to Week 5.

The pregame narrative: The Vikings return to Minnesota after a win in England to face a hapless Chicago Bears squad. A couple of home favourites in the Los Angeles Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are worth a play, too.

Here are our best early NFL Week 5 picks.

Odds as of 9:48 a.m. 10/03/2022.

Best early NFL Week 5 picks

Best Bet : Vikings -6.5 (-121)

If you didn’t believe the Bears were completely inept before Week 4, you should now.

Chicago mustered a measly 12 points on four field goals against the New York Giants, who aren’t anything special defensively. Justin Fields completed just 11 of his 22 attempts in the win for 174 passing yards, zero touchdowns, six sacks and a fumble.

It was another underwhelming performance from a young quarterback who hasn’t proven much in the NFL.

The defence wasn’t any better against Giants quarterbacks Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor. Both left during the game due to injury, but it didn’t matter who was under centre because the Giants were content on gashing Chicago on the ground.

New York ran the ball 44 times for 262 yards, an average of six yards per carry.

That’s exactly where Minnesota can find similar success in this matchup. The Bears are allowing 5.1 yards per carry, which is tied for the third-highest mark in the NFL.

The San Francisco 49ers rushed for 176 yards against them in Week 1, while Aaron Jones and Saquon Barkley each had 130-plus yard rushing days in their matchups with Chicago.

This should shape up as a big day for Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison on the ground.

Key stat: Chicago is 7-13-1 against the spread since the start of last season, the second-worst mark in the NFL.

Quick picks

Rams -4.5 (-112): Betting on a team that hasn’t played yet in Week 4 may be tempting fate. But after not getting enough respect, it’s clear the Dallas Cowboys are now getting too much.

Dallas’ wins have come against the Cincinnati Bengals, Giants and Washington Commanders. This isn’t a list filled with Super Bowl contenders, and now it’s tasked with facing the defending champs on the road

We’ll take Los Angeles to win and cover the 4.5-point spread, which opened at Los Angeles -6.

Buccaneers -7.5 (-113): The Atlanta Falcons have been a pleasant surprise through the first quarter of the season, but this is a terrible spot for them.

The Bucs stay in Tampa Bay for their third consecutive home game and they’ve come up empty-handed in their first two. Atlanta’s walking into a buzzsaw and the historical head-to-head says the same.

Tampa Bay is 4-0 against the Falcons since Tom Brady joined the team, and has covered this number in three consecutive games.

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