Monday Night Football Week 9 Fantasy Picks

It is another AFC versus NFC matchup on Monday Night Football as the San Diego Chargers will be at home against the Chicago Bears. Both teams are under .500. Today’s Fantasy Football Week 9 comes from www.fanpicks.com

The Bears blew a seven point lead late by shoddy play in the secondary as they give up big passing plays to Minnesota in the final two drives that proved costly in the defeat that moved Chicago to 2-5 on the season. They are moving to a more balanced approach offensively. The team has been hit with injuries as featured running back Matt Forte and wide receiver Eddie Royal are injury scratches for Monday night football.

San Diego Chargers are in bad shape for a post season spot with a record of 2-6. The defense has been leaky in 2015 for San Diego as the team is 27^th in the league in points against by allowing 28.4 points per game. During this four game losing streak the Chargers have lost by seven or fewer points in each game.

Chargers are heavily dependent on quarterback Phillip Rivers passing. The team is the top passing team from the NFL as they throw for 336 yards per game. Rivers has thrown for 18 touchdowns and has seven picks. In eight games he has 2753 yards passing which averages out to nearly 340 yards per game. He has thrown for over 300 yards in five straight games.  In two games where Rivers failed to amass 300 yards passing they were road games at Minnesota and Chicago. San Diego doesn’t run well and Rivers will be licking his chops looking at the Bears and Vikings film last week to look to exploit the Chicago secondary for big plays in the passing game. Another benefit with Rivers here is the fact he is facing an NFC opponent who they face just once every four years. The Bears defenders are not familiar with the Chargers formations, plays and passing routes run by receivers.

Play on Phillip Rivers (Chargers QB)

The Chargers are going to be without their leading wide receiver Keenan Allen who has a lacerated kidney. Veteran wide out Malcolm Floyd has been a big play weapon in the passing game for San Diego this year as he is averaging 19.3 yards per catch. Bears secondary were getting beat deep last week and Rivers has the arm strength to hit Floyd deep with big plays in this spot. Last week at Baltimore, it was Malcolm Floyd with four catches for 92 yards and two touchdown catches. Now that Floyd is the main target he is one to include on your roster.

Play on Malcolm Floyd (Chargers WR)

The Bears are moving toward becoming a more balanced offense under veteran head coach John Fox. They want to build up that defense and have the opportunity to run on a bad defensive team in the Chargers who are 26^th in the NFL against the run by allowing 124 rushing yards per game. With Matt Forte sidelined with an injury it will be rookie Jeremy Langford getting the start at running back. Langford has fresh legs with only 27 carries on the year with two rushing touchdowns. The Bears are committed to running this year as the club sits in the middle of the league at 16^th. That’s a huge improvement from last year where they were near the bottom of the league. On Monday night football to contain the crowd noise look for the Bears to lean on Langford as he will get a lot of work in this game.

Play on Jeremy Langford (Bears RB)