The Jacksonville Jaguars play the first of their back-to-back games in London against the Chicago Bears at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this Sunday. 

They are the official road team for this contest while they will host the New England Patriots at Wembley next week.

The Bears are facing some tough competition in the NFC North this season as all four teams have winning records, but confidence should be rising as they bid for a third successive victory.

The Jaguars lost their first four games before getting off the mark with a 37-34 win over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday and they will be hoping their greater experience of transatlantic trips proves to be an advantage.

Chicago Bear vs Jacksonville Jaguars tips

Chicago Bears -2.5 @ 37/40

Under 44.5 points @ 10/11

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Bears can extend their winning streak

The Bears were hoping for a better season after going 7-10 in 2023 and they have made a promising start. 

A 3-2 record doesn’t yet see them challenging at the top of the competitive NFC North division, which is led by the unbeaten 5-0 Minnesota Vikings, but the future looks brighter for them with this year’s first overall draft pick Caleb Williams at quarterback.

The Bears’ two defeats this season came against the first two AFC South teams they faced in the Texans and Colts, but they have improved in each of the last two weeks to beat the Rams 24-18 and the Panthers 36-10 at Soldier Field.

There should be some caution around the quality of the Bears’ wins as the three teams they have beaten have only three wins between them this season, but the Jaguars don’t represent a jump in standard themselves.

Doug Pederson’s team were expected to be in the play-off hunt this season but have been a bitter disappointment so far. The Jaguars lost their first four games, with three fairly close losses to the Dolphins, Browns and Texans and an almighty 47-10 hammering on the road in Buffalo.

Jacksonville also have a first overall draft pick at quarterback but questions are starting to be asked about the development of 2021 selection Trevor Lawrence, who has thrown only six touchdown passes in his first five games.

The Jags are averaging under 20 points per game, but a bigger worry is the performance of their injury-hit defence, who have given up the third-most points in the league.

Jacksonville won both their London games last season but that lifted their overall record in England to 6-5, so it seems they do not have a huge advantage from their regular trips across the pond.

The Bears have a 1-1 record in the UK after London trips in 2011 and 2019 but have a decent chance of getting a second success at Tottenham on Sunday.

Points could be hard to come by

Sunday’s first London game of the season saw the Jets and Vikings combine to score 40 points at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and that continued a trend of relatively low-scoring games in the London games.

The Jaguars’ 25-20 win over the Bills at this venue last season was the highest total of the last five London fixtures. The Florida-based team lost 21-17 to the Broncos in 2022 and beat the Falcons 23-7 on their last two trips to Wembley, while the Ravens beat the Titans 24-16 in the final London game last year.

The Bears did not score or allow more than 24 points in any of their first four games and while they had an offensive breakout against the struggling Panthers last week, their defence ranks joint-fifth in points per game and fifth in yards per game conceded.

The Jaguars’ offensive improvement last week came against a Colts defence that ranks last in the league in yards per game and they should find scoring much tougher against the Bears.

All odds correct at time of writing

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