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By Tyler Everett
Sports Betting Editor
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Saturday, August 10, features nine preseason NFL games, but only one NFL (exhibition) debut for the top pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
The Chicago Bears vs. Buffalo Bills matchup at 1 p.m. ET in Orchard Park, NY, is actually the second game of the preseason for Chicago, which participated in the NFL Hall of Fame Game against Houston a week ago.
But Caleb Williams and Chicago's starters sat that one out, extending fans' wait to see Williams' first passes as a Bear to Saturday's game against Buffalo.
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As for the Bills, coach Sean McDermott said this week that starting QB Josh Allen and most of the team's starters will see about a quarter of action, which means there will be plenty to watch for in the early going of this game.
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Buffalo lost last year's top two pass-catchers, Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis, in free agency, but returns a promising receiving threat in second-year TE Dalton Kincaid and added WRs Curtis Samuel in free agency and second-round rookie Keon Coleman in the draft.
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Though the coaching staffs for both Chicago and Buffalo have confirmed that Williams, Allen and the rest of their healthy starters will make an appearance on Saturday, fans should still expect an ugly game once each team turns to its backups.
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Five preseason games have already taken place this weekend, and for the most part, points have been at a premium, to put it nicely. In Carolina vs. New England and New York vs. Detroit on Thursday, and also in Friday's Philadelphia vs. Baltimore game, anyone hoping for offensive fireworks came away disappointed.
The Panthers and Lions both failed to reach the end zone, and all three of those contests were low-scoring, with totals under 30 points.
On Friday night, Houston looked sharp early against Pittsburgh, and the Dolphins and Falcons both scored 10 or more in the first half of their matchup. Still, what we've seen around the league to date has made it hard to trust that we'll see much early offense in this game.
It will be interesting to see whether Chicago lets Williams truly run the offense. Another QB taken early in the 2024 NFL Draft, Drake Maye, attempted just three short passes for New England on Thursday before calling it a night.
Between WRs DJ Moore and Keenan Allen and TE Cole Kmet, the Bears have the weapons to give Williams a chance at making some noise if his coaches let him air it out.
As for Buffalo, Allen will start, but it's unlikely the Bills coaching staff will look for more than a few vanilla reps from their starter.
As backup QBs go, the Bears' Tyson Bagent and the Bills' Mitch Trubisky are both solid. That could mean we see some late-game offense from these teams.
Chicago's third-string quarterback, Brett Rypien, lit up Houston in the Hall of Fame Game (166 yards and three TDs on just 15 attempts) last week, making his follow-up this weekend worth watching.
Bears vs. Bills Preseason Week 1 Best Bets
Barring a surprising red-hot start from Williams and/or Allen, don't expect much scoring early. That makes the first-half under a solid play.
Bagent and/or Rypien could be poised for strong performances based on what we saw from from the former in four starts last year and the latter last week. With that in mind, a play on the Bears going over their team total looks like a good bet.
Best bets:
- First Half Total Under 19.5 (EVEN) BetMGM
- Bears Team Total Over 17.5 (EVEN) bet365
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