Week 1 Prediction
We kick the 2017 regular season off in Week 1 at Soldier Field against the Chicago Bears. According to ESPN, we have about a 64 percent chance of winning this game. The Bears are coming off of a preseason quarterback battle between Mike Glennon, who just received a new contract lasting through the 2019 season, and rookie Mitchell Trubisky in which Glennon was just named the Week 1 starter. I don't think either one of these quarterbacks would be good enough to get past the Falcons young, explosive defense. Of course, with it only being Week 1 of the regular season, we can only make predictions based on what we already know about the teams from previous seasons and what players are on the week 1 active rosters for each team. With that being said, I predict that our defense will hold the Bears to 1 touchdown and maybe 2 field goals the entire game. On offense, even with this being our first regular season game with our new offensive coordinator, I think our play calling will be just as explosive as it was last season. I'll say that Matt Ryan throws 2 touchdown passes, at least one rushing touchdown from either Devonta Freeman or Tevin Coleman, and Matt Bryant kicks and makes at least 1 field goal, giving us a total of 24 points. Making the final score 24-13 Falcons. However, this is just safe prediction without factoring in the possibility of turnovers and bad calls and things of that nature. Our defense may very well cause a number of turnovers against the Bears' weak offense and our offense most definitely could score more than 24 points against a Bears' defense that ranked 15th last season. This game may very well set the tone for what's to come in rest of the season and I think it will.
