Greetings from Chicago, home of the first-place Bears, at least for now.
Watched MNF and listened to VSiN on the plane. The Dolphins (+3) were officially eliminated from the playoffs with a 28-15 loss to the Steelers, who retained the AFC North lead. The sweat, of course, was the Total. Despite garbage-time points. it went just Under — if you got the closing 43.5 (at Circa and DraftKings).
Bowling for dollars
A college football bowl blitz starts tonight, culminating in the first-round CFP games.
Have you downloaded your VSiN CFP Betting Guide yet? Brackets and Best Bets from VSiN’s hosts and writers await you.
👉 Buy your guide for just $14.99 here.
To make sure we provide you with the latest opt-outs and lines, we post our individual bowl previews on VSiN.com (72 hours in advance).
VSiN.com managing editor Adam Burke has posted his picks for the next four bowls:
Tonight
>Salute to Veterans Bowl: Troy (-1.5 at Circa) vs. Jacksonville State, 9 ET (ESPN)
Wednesday
>Cure Bowl: Old Dominion (+3) vs. South Florida, 5 ET (ESPN)
>68 Ventures Bowl: Louisiana (-3) vs. Delaware, 8:30 ET (ESPN)
Thursday
>Xbox Bowl: Missouri State (+1.5) vs. Arkansas State, 9 ET (ESPN2)
Adam joins Tim Murray on the VSiN CFB Betting Podcast to offer advice on betting bowl games and how to handle the opt-outs and line moves. 👉 Watch / Listen
Everything we do during bowl season is posted here.
Others CFB resources
>CFB Matchup page (stats, power ratings)
VSiN Pro subscribers have access to the CFB Picks page.
NFL playoff picture
With the Steelers’ victory wrapping up Week 16, the playoff picture is becoming clear.
My oversimplified version:
AFC: The Ravens need to win out to make the playoffs, which would include beating the Steelers in Week 18.
NFC: The Lions need to win out to make the playoffs, bumping the Bears in Week 18. The Bucs and Panthers can only make it by winning the NFC South. They play each other Week 16 and 18.
On the injury front:
➡️ Patrick Mahomes had surgery on his ACL on Monday night.
➡️ Micah Parsons’ ACL injury was confirmed. He’s out for the season.
➡️ Davonte Adams (aggravated hamstring) is likely to miss the Rams’ TNF matchup vs. the Seahawks.
➡️ Jayden Daniels (elbow) wll sit out the Commanders’ final three games.
And, finally, the Colts named Philip Rivers as the starter vs. the 49ers (-5.5) on MNF.
Everything we do on Week 16 will be posted here.
Quick Hits
NBA: Zach Cohen‘s Best Bets and Steve Makinen‘s Analytics Report will hit around mid-morning on our NBA page. Our Opta AI NBA player props projections are here.
College Basketball: Greg “Hoops” Peterson has his Best Bets for today’s menu. Adam Burke offers his college basketball Best Bets Monday-Saturday. You can find them on our college basketball page mid-morning.
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NHL: VSiN hockey analyst Jonathan Davis will post his Best Bets around mid-day.
