A battle of young quarterback’s takes center stage.
Two of the games youngest stars take on primetime, as No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears head south to face reigning Rookie of the Year C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans.
Williams got off to a slow start in his rookie debut, completing less than 50 percent of his passes for 93 yards. But, Chicago prevailed behind their tough defense, which Stroud and running back Joe Mixon, who ran for 159 yards in his Houston debut, will look to crack.
Check down below to see Pats Pulpit’s picks tonight and head to the comment section to further discussion Friday night’s action.
Patriots rooting guide
Go Bears! With both Chicago and Houston falling on New England’s schedule this season, the Patriots will side with the NFC. | 8:20 p.m. ET, NBC
Patriots picks
Oliver Thomas: Caleb Williams threw for 93 yards in his NFL debut. And while that tally will climb Sunday night, I’ll still take Houston at home, even if Joe Mixon doesn’t take another 30 handoffs from C.J. Stroud. | Texans 28, Bears 20
Brian Hines: Caleb Williams should look better in his second career start, but that may still not be good enough to go punch-for-punch with C.J. Stroud — even against a strong Bears defense. We like Joe Mixon to have another strong game to lead Houston to a victory. | Texans 24, Bears 17
Bernd Buchmasser: The Bears may have won their season opener, but there is a reason they enter Sunday night as 5.5-point underdogs: they barely squeaked by the Titans thanks to the performance of their defense and special teams. Will that be enough to beat the Texans, though? We have out doubts. | Texans 28, Bears 17
If you’re looking to make your own pick on the game, head over to FanDuel.