Bears promote Babich to defensive coordinator

Football Betting Lines

02/20/2007 - Lake Forest, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bears named Bob Babich the team's defensive coordinator on Tuesday, one day after announcing that Ron Rivera would no longer own that title.

Babich has been an assistant coach in Chicago since 2004, starting as the team's linebackers coach before later being promoted to assistant head coach/linebackers last season.

Rivera was almost immediately hired as the Chargers' linebackers coach after officially being relieved of his duties in Chicago.

Throughout his time with the Bears, Babich has held the responsibility of signaling the defensive play-calls to the players on the field from the sideline. During that time the Bears have led the NFL in percentage of points off turnovers, total defensive takeaways, third-down defense and opponent quarterback rating while ranking second in the NFL in defensive red-zone touchdown ratio, defensive touchdowns and interceptions.

Babich was the first coach to join Lovie Smith's staff, coming over from St. Louis where he served as the linebackers coach while Smith was the defensive coordinator for the Rams. The two also worked together at Tulsa (1984-86) where Smith oversaw the linebackers while Babich worked with tight ends and assisted with the offensive line.

Footballgambleworld Football Betting News


<< Forsberg's impact on Predators not reflected in his stats
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In two games as a member of the Nashville Predators, Peter Forsberg has yet to record a point. But judging by the team's performance Monday against the Phoenix Coyotes, there's little to reason for Music City fans to panic.

<< Kings get chance to be spoilers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While the Los Angeles Kings are all but out of this year's playoff race, they will get an opportunity to put a damper on some other team's chances as well. This past weekend, the Kings managed to split a home-and-home seri

<< Blackhawks activate F Bourque
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Blackhawks activated forward Rene Bourque on Tuesday. Bourque missed the past 21 games with a crack in his ankle. He was assigned to the team's AHL affiliate in Norfolk for conditioning purpose

<< This Week in Auto Racing February 23 - February 25
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - From one coast to the other the NASCAR caravan pulls into the Los Angeles area for week No.2 of 36. For those that had a tough time in the restrictor-plate race at Daytona its back to un- restric

<< Jankovic, Hantuchova advance in UAE
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fifth-seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic and eighth-seeded Slovak Daniela Hantuchova were among Tuesday's opening-round winners at the $1.5 million Dubai Duty Free Women's Open.

Robredo, Ljubicic win first-rounders in Rotterdam >>
Rotterdam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo and third-seeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic were among Tuesday's first-round winners at the $1 million ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament. The world No. 7 Robre

Champions League Roundup: PSV carry first leg lead to London >>
Eindhoven, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dutch champion PSV Eindhoven handed English Premier League power, Arsenal, its first defeat in any competition of 2007 when the UEFA Champions League resumed with the first leg of the

MISL, VERSUS to partner for national coverage of league >>
Westport, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) and VERSUS, the network that is best known for NHL coverage , announced Tuesday a partnership to deliver a nationally televised game of the week. The coverage of th

Zambrano, Cubs agree to one-year deal >>
Mesa, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs and starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano avoided salary arbitration by agreeing to a one-year contract worth a reported $12.4 million on Tuesday. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the deal w

Phillips signs long-term deal with Chargers >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Chargers signed linebacker Shaun Phillips to a six-year contract on Tuesday. Phillips, in his third year with the Chargers and first as a full-time starter, recorded a career-high

What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.

Terrell Owens could return for Cowboys next game
A bye week will allow Terrell Owens broken hand to recover just in time for the next game the Dallas Cowboys are slated to play, according to reports. MySportsbook.com, an football sportsbook, has posted football betting lines on TO playing.

Owens broke the bone leading to his right ring finger Sunday night and had a plate surgically attached to it Monday. Although Owens' hand was swollen and aching Wednesday, Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said he's optimistic the receiver will be back at work next week and catching passes a week from Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.

MySportsbook.com online sportsbook listed Terrell Owens with odds of 7-2 (or $7 paid out for every $2 bet) to return back for the game against Tennessee.

"I certainly wouldn't rule it out now," Parcells said, referring to Terrell Owens immediate return. "Maybe five days from now I might, but I wouldn't rule it out now. ... I know we're looking to try to get him moving around pretty good in the next day or so. So we'll see where we are."

Owens did not speak with reporters Wednesday, but said Sunday he'd be out two to four weeks. A return against the Titans would be 13 days after the surgery. The Cowboys were listed as an early -7 1/2 favorite vs. the Tennessee Titans for Week 4 at MySportsbook.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Mastercard needs.