Week 8 of the NFL season began with a Chicago Bears 30-24 win over Drake Maye and the New England Patriots. The game had a little bit of everything, including a 58-yard field goal from Cario Santos and the easiest touchdown at the end of the first half for New England that you may ever witness.
What will the rest of the weekend have in store for bettors?
Our NFL handicapping team of Michael Fiddle, Matt Jacob, Jeremy Pond and Matt Russell combine to give their best bets for Week 7 of the NFL season.
Odds subject to change.
Pittsburgh Steelers (-3, 44.5) vs. New Orleans Saints
Pond: My love for NFL tight ends has been on full display this season and that's no different in this showdown between the Steelers and Orleans Saints in Paris.
New Orleans has been absolutely terrible defending the position, highlighted by New York Giants standout Isaiah Likely recording six receptions for 99 yards and a touchdown in last week's meeting. Go back even further and you can find Las Vegas Raiders star Brock Bowers, who torched the Saints with 10 catches for 116 yards and a score.
Pittsburgh quarterback Aaron Rodgers consistently incorporates his tight ends into the offense, so I am targeting Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington to have a busy day in France.
I'm optimistic Freiermuth, who has three touchdowns in his last three games, can find the end zone for the fifth time this season here. He sits tied for fifth in the league in red-zone targets, turning four of them into touchdowns.
As for the big man, Washington has hit or cleared three receptions in three of Pittsburgh's last four contests. He had four catches on six targets in the Steelers' 26-19 overtime win against Tampa Bay, giving me confidence he will keep the momentum going in the French capital.
Bets: TE Pat Freiermuth anytime TD (+255, Caesars) | TE Darnell Washington over 2.5 receptions (+100, FanDuel)
San Francisco 49ers (-2.5, 49.5) at Atlanta Falcons
Russell: Let's dust off our old-school handicapping hat and start with how tough of a "spot" this is on the 49ers. It's a short week, traveling from one coast to the other, knowing that going into their bye with a 6-1 record is no failure. Especially, if their NFC West rivals are both under .500 through seven weeks.
Of course, this doesn't mean San Francisco will be trying to lose, but it should dissuade the Niners from being aggressive with the availability of Nick Bosa, Mike Evans and Deebo Samuel, if they're even close to being able to play.
Offensively, things dried up considerably in the second half of Monday Night Football against Washington, after Evans went out with a sore Achilles, limiting San Francisco to short passes and the run game with Christian McCaffrey. Without being able to extend drives, the Commanders had more opportunities to make a pending blowout close than even they might have expected.
With all due respect, a wide receiver corps of Jordan Watkins, Jacob Cowing and Brandin Cooks wouldn't have the 49ers undefeated if that's what Brock Purdy was working with since the start of the season.
The 49ers' offensive line has been outstanding this season, with top-five win rates in both pass-protection and run blocking (per ESPN), but the big surprise in this matchup is that the Falcons have had top-five win rates on defense.
In San Francisco's only other road game — at Seattle's defense and their No. 1-ranked pass-rush win rate — the 49ers only accumulated 269 total yards, greatly helped by Evans' 113 receiving yards.
The Falcons have dropped the first two of their three-straight home games, so we should expect their full attention with the undefeated Niners coming to town, in a game that sets up as their best chance for a statement win.
Bet: Falcons ML (+126, FanDuel)
Fiddle: The 49ers are one of the last three remaining undefeated teams in the NFL, and the presence of the upcoming bye week is important in this handicap. The most impressive part of San Francisco's hot start has been doing so amidst a bevy of injuries, specifically to the skill position players. Wide receivers Deebo Samuel, Demarcus Robinson, De'Zhaun Stribling and Ricky Pearsall are all on injured reserve and confirmed out. Jake Tonges, a secondary tight end behind George Kittle (who is returning from an achilles injury himself), is also on IR.
Lastly, Evans is questionable to play with a rib injury, along with Achilles tendinitis. He has not practiced this week.
The 49ers have been extremely cautious about the workload bestowed upon McCaffrey. Last season, he led the NFL with 413 touches — and he held a staggering lead over second-place Jonathan Taylor at 369. This season, he is 13th in the NFL. The per game averages have dropped from 24.3 to 17.5. This is clearly a point of emphasis.
However, situationally, this is the game to lean on McCaffrey and ramp up his usage. The other skill players are not there to be relied upon, and the 49ers' bye week is right after this game. Giving McCaffrey a boost in usage also comes with extra rest, and a decrease in need to continue so on the backend.
Understanding this situational spot allows us to grab a depressed line based on this season's volume metrics, which likely wont align with this single game.
Bets: Christian McCaffrey over 15.5 rushing attempts (-103, Caesars) | McCaffrey over 5.5 receptions (+107, Caesars) | McCaffrey over 111.5 rushing + receiving yards (-113, FanDuel)
Los Angeles Rams (-3.5, 48.5) at Las Vegas Raiders
Pond: To say the Rams are thin in the pass-catching department is be an understatement.
Davante Adams (hamstring) is on IR, as is tight end Terrance Ferguson, who is still dealing with an ankle injury. Now, the status of Puka Nacua (calf) is up in the air ahead of Sunday's battle with the Raiders in Sin City.
With those absences and a big question mark surrounding Nacua, QB Matthew Stafford is going to have to find someone to lean on through the air. And I think this sets up for a big day for Blake Corum.
The running back played 29% of Los Angeles' snaps against Arizona last week, highlighted by five routes for two receptions on two targets for 18 yards and a touchdown.
Even if Nacua is good to go, he won't be functioning at 100%. That means we could see head coach Sean McVay relying on Corum to pick up some of the slack and see plenty of more chances to work in the passing game.
I like both of these reception props in a contest where Corum should shine bright.
Bets: RB Blake Corum 2+ receptions (+136) and 3+ receptions (+370) at FanDuel
Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions (-3, 53.5)
Jacob: In Week 1, Saints QB Tyler Shough threw for 410 yards. It remains his season high by 124 yards. In Week 3, the Jets' Geno Smith threw for 321 yards. It's his season high by 69 yards. In Week 4, Carolina's Bryce Young threw for 329 yards, his second-best passing game of 2026. In Week 5, Arizona's Jacoby Brissett threw for a season-high 292 yards.
The thread that links them? They all lit up the same team: the Detroit Lions. In fact, the only quarterback the Lions' wretched secondary has "contained" through five games is Josh Allen. The Bills' quarterback had 248 passing yards (to go with 69 rushing yards) in a Week 2 Thursday Night Football rout of Detroit.
That night, Allen missed his pre-game passing yards projection by just 3 yards. The other five QBs who faced the Lions obliterated their air yards projection. I'm confident Green Bay's Jordan Love will do the same Sunday.
For one thing, Love's 1,684 passing yards rank behind only C.J. Stroud (1,714) and Matthew Stafford (1,794) on the NFL leaderboard. Over his last seven starts dating to the Packers' wild card loss at Chicago in January, Love has cleared 310 yards four times.
This season, only the Buccaneers (197) and Jets (145) have held Love in check. Tampa Bay's defense ranks 20th in passing yards allowed. New York ranks fourth. Detroit ranks 32nd, yielding nearly 18 more air yards per game than any other team.
Bet: QB Jordan Love over 277.5 passing yards
Kansas City Chiefs at Seattle Seahawks (-2.5, 42.5)
Jacob: Kenneth Walker III has been nothing short of sensational in his first season with the Chiefs. Not only does he enter Week 7 with an NFL-best 665 rushing yards — including five games with at least 117 yards — but he's also racked up 95 receiving yards and eight total touchdowns (six rushing, two receiving).
Now Walker gets to strut into the stadium where he worked for the first four years of his career and face the franchise that he carried to a Super Bowl title nine months ago. Think the reigning Super Bowl MVP is eager to show the Seahawks what a mistake they made kicking him to the curb in the offseason?
Here's the thing, though: The Seahawks are very aware that they're facing a highly motivated former teammate. The defending champs know if they let Walker run all over them, they will lose for a third straight week and fall under .500. So even though the man in front of Walker is named Patrick Mahomes, I fully expect Seattle to make its former mate public enemy No. 1 in this contest. I also expect that game plan to work.
The Seahawks field a top-10 run defense (96 yards per game). Opposing backs are averaging just 3.51 yards per carry (only Jacksonville, Tampa Bay and Houston have been stingier). And only one opponent has topped 51 rushing yards against Seattle so far (Christian McCaffrey had 68 yards on 11 carries in Week 5).
Bet: RB Kenneth Walker III under 84.5 rushing yards (-114, FanDuel)
Bet Kenneth Walker III to go under his rushing total at sportsbooks
Pond: We started this group entry featuring our best bets with picks targeting tight ends.
Well, we're closing things with another player at that position in AJ Barner.
The Seattle tight end has had a relatively quiet start to the season, hauling in 15 catches on 24 targets for 138 yards. He has yet to score a touchdown via reception, but did score via a 1-yard run in a Week 2 against the Arizona Cardinals.
And while the numbers haven't been great, there's a big reason I think Barner could have his breakout game against Kansas City: The Chiefs have a ton of trouble defending tight ends, with the statistics showing it.
Vegas' tight end duo — Bowers and Michael Meyer — torched the Kansas City secondary, combining for 14 receptions for a whopping 168 yards and a touchdown. Miami's Greg Dulcich hit them for five catches and 55 yards, which came two weeks after Evan Engram (4-43-1) put in a solid shift in Denver's season-opening loss to the Chiefs.
I like the price we're getting on Barner to score and will also back him to clear his alternate receiving yards total.
Bets: TE AJ Barner anytime touchdown (+275, Caesars) and 25+ receiving yards (-114, FanDuel)