After an absolutely dominant 14-2 record on NFL picks and predictions back in Week 8, it wasn't looking good in the early slate of Week 9 action. We started off with a 1-5 record on picks before slowly creeping back into it and ended Sunday with a very respectable 8-5 record in just straight-up picks. What does Week 10 have in store?
Four more teams have bye weeks in Week 10, including the two teams that played in last year's Super Bowl (Chiefs and Eagles). We'll pick another 14 games for this week including a handful of really underrated matchups as teams make their playoff pushes in the second half of the season.
2023 NFL picks and score predictions for Week 10
Week 10 byes: Chiefs (7-2), Rams (3-6), Dolphins (6-3), Eagles (8-1)
Carolina Panthers (1-7) @ Chicago Bears (2-7)
Thursday, November 9, 8:15 PM ET
This is just what the NFL world needs, isn't it? A matchup between the 1-7 Panthers and 2-7 Chicago Bears in prime time TV. I'm sure Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit are thrilled...
At any rate, questions remain as to whether Justin Fields will be coming back for the Bears anytime soon. The Bears have gotten a really good look at rookie Tyson Bagent, who has played solid for Chicago but has also not exactly prevented fans from wanting to see Fields back out there as soon as possible. We saw Fields on the sideline talking to Bagent during the game with a cast on his thumb, so that's obviously not a great sign, but he did get in his first practice this past week.
Given this is a short week, and the Bears don't have a bye until Week 13, it would make some sense to rest Fields one more game.
Carolina got their first win of the season a couple of weeks ago, but it wasn't the start of any sort of run, by any means. This team is struggling just to get by and develop Bryce Young right now, which must be disheartening considering what we've been seeing with the development of CJ Stroud in Houston.
Somewhat shockingly, the Bears are favored by 3.5 points. This one is the definition of a coin flip to me.
Prediction: Bears win 20-17