Thursday Night DFS Single Game Breakdown: Buccaneers at Bears

Oct 07, 2020

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In preparing for the Bucs-Bears Thursday nighter, we must prepare ourselves for four hours of announcers forcing the narrative of Nick Foles versus Tom Brady. Because, see, Foles happened to be the quarterback of a team that bested Brady and the Patriots in a Super Bowl.

So we have a rematch Thursday night. Sort of. Not really.

Below is a breakdown of single-game DFS contests on FanDuel and DraftKings for the Week 5 Thursday Night Football matchup. Constructing single-game lineups requires some imagination, especially for large-field tournament purposes.

We want to create a lineup that reflects a certain kind of game script, choosing players who would thrive—or at least have the chance to thrive—if their teams got out to a lead or were left chasing points in the second half. There’s also the neutral script that doesn't tend to inflate opportunity for any one player or team. Understanding the likelihood of each scenario and piecing together a roster that would score a bunch of points in such a scenario is key to success in these single-game contests.

Remember: For the captain spot on DraftKings, the price (and fantasy points awarded) are multiplied by 1.5. On FanDuel, the prices are the same throughout, but the MVP slot receives 1.5 times the fantasy point value of the other roster spots.

Vegas Spread And Total

Tampa is a 4.5-point favorite against the home team Bears, having started the week as a 5.5-point favorite. The Bucs' implied total is 24.25 points at the time of this writing. Chicago's implied total is 19.75 points, an ugly little number.