2024 NFL picks, score predictions for Week 3

Chicago Bears (1-1) @ Indianapolis Colts (0-2)

Sunday, September 22, 1:00 PM ET

The first two weeks of the 2024 NFL season haven’t been overly kind to either Chicago Bears #1 overall pick Caleb Williams or Indianapolis Colts second-year player Anthony Richardson.

Let’s start with the Bears, who are coming off of a really rough loss to the Houston Texans in Week 2. We saw the Bears’ defense get off to a hot start in Week 1, helping the struggling/learning offense with a rookie quarterback by actually putting some points on the board and leading the team to a win. That wasn’t the case in Week 2 against the Texans.

The Bears’ defense wasn’t able to force a number of turnovers in the loss to Houston, and DeMeco Ryans schemed things up to make life miserable for Caleb Williams, who was sacked a whopping seven times while throwing a pair of interceptions. But the Chicago defense still kept it close and kept the Texans under 20 points, which is crucial.

The Colts, on the other hand, are an even tougher team to project this week because they’re playing at home and the offense has been explosive at times, but Anthony Richardson just threw three interceptions (one on a last-ditch hail mary play) against the Green Bay Packers. What’s worse, the Colts really allowed the Packers to dominate them on the ground and dictate time of possession.

Indianapolis is just 1.5-point favorites in this matchup at home, indicating Vegas thinks this game is bordering on being a toss-up. And that’s kind of where I’m at as well.

Prediction: Colts win 17-14