There are still a few items left to unwrap the day after Christmas, and one constant carries over into the New Year.
That would be football.
The NFL is back with Seahawks-Bears, and the build-up to the best college bowl games of the season arrives.
Thursday’s best bets are below:
Seattle Seahawks at Chicago Bears, 8:20 p.m. ET, Prime Video
Seattle enters Soldier Field in a must-win game Thursday night, and even if the Seahawks can top Chicago and beat the Los Angeles Rams in Week 18, they still might miss out on the postseason because of the strength-of-victory tiebreaker.
If Seattle (8-7) gets there, it will be without Kenneth Walker at running back, after he was ruled out for Thursday’s game.
The Bears (4-11) have dropped nine consecutive games with less than 20 points seven times, including last week’s 34-17 home defeat against the Detroit Lions.
Offensive line health is a concern for Chicago, and the Bears don’t have a good answer for Seahawks DT Leonard Williams.
Best bet: Bears under 19.5 points (-110 FanDuel)
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Rate Bowl, Kansas State vs. Rutgers, 5:30 p.m. ET
Kansas State (8-4) started the season 7-1 and appeared destined for the College Football Playoff. The Wildcats lost three of their final four games and drew the day-after-Christmas bowl game instead. Rutgers (7-5) started the season 4-0 before losing four straight.
Kansas State, powered by dual-threat quarterback Avery Johnson. He rushed for 548 yards (45.7 per game), second most on the team, and passed for 2,517 yards (209.8 per game) with 28 total touchdowns (22 passing and six rushing). DJ Giddens, who averaged 111.9 yards per game, has declared for the NFL draft and will sit out, but the Wildcats still have plenty of firepower.
Rutgers is lacking the firepower to match and has been hurt by QB-designed runs.
Best bet: Avery Johnson 2-plus touchdowns (+400 DraftKings)
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Detroit Pistons at Sacramento Kings, 10 p.m. ET
One team is streaking, the other is sinking—and if you were distracted by holiday doings, you might not predict which team’s arrow is pointing up.
The team whose last home game was a loss to the Utah Jazz has beaten the Suns 133-125 and the Lakers 117-114 before settling into a California Christmas without snow. That would be the Detroit Pistons.
All of a sudden, Sacramento appears to be offensively challenged.
Shots from scorers projected to provide big points output this season are in a funk.
Malik Monk called the offensive “embarrassing” and has been a big part of it. Monk is 6-for-27 on 3-pointers over the past three games, and DeMar DeRozan has averaged just 8.0 points on 9-for-30 shooting overall during that span.
We’re not expecting the slumps to last forever, and a day away could be just what DeRozan needed.
Best Bet: DeRozan over 27.5 Pts + Ast + Reb (-110, FanDuel)
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