Jim Feist

The first Monday Night football game of the season is here and the San Francisco 49ers have to have a bitter taste in their mouths after coming so close to the Super Bowl win.  The Jets finally get back QB Aaron Rodgers after last year's devastating Achilles injury, and he'll be looking to lead a talented Jets team to a strong start. The Jets' offense will be tested against one of the best defenses in the NFL, but they bring strong playmakers like Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson. While the Jets' defense is also highly rated, particularly their pass rush and secondary, the key will be how well they can contain Christian McCaffrey and the versatile 49ers offense?. The 49ers are coming off a Super Bowl run and are expected to be one of the top teams again. Led by quarterback Brock Purdy, who has impressed since taking over last season, the 49ers' offense is powered by McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, and Brandon Aiyuk. McCaffrey is questionable as of Sunday for this game with both a Calf and Achilles issues. However, McCaffrey says he will definitely be available for this game.  The 49ers are favored by about 4 points and I expect a very close game with two elite defenses and both teams having plenty of offensive weapons. I'll take the points in this one with the Jets.

 The Chicago Cubs have cooled off a bit after being one of the hottest teams in baseball. They cut the lead in the NL Wild Card race to just three games but have since fallen back to five games back with four teams ahead of them. They also scored 99 runs over a 10 game span until the Yankees series where they scored just two runs and lost two of their three games. Now they head to Los Angeles to take on the NL West leading Dodgers. After seeing their lead in the West drop to just 2 1/2 games, the Dodgers have built it back up to six games over the Padres and 6.5 games over the Diamondbacks. The Dodgers took two of three from the Guardians and are 7-3 their last 10 games. Kyle Hendricks will start for the Cubs today. He's struggled this year to a 3-11 record and 6.60 ERA. Hendricks has allowed 11 runs over his last 11 1/3 innings. The Dodgers will counter with Walk Beuhler who is just 1-4 with a 5.67 ERA in an injury plagued season. Beuhler has pitched better of late but still hasn't gone far into games, with five innings being his longest stint in his last five starts. He's also had control issues with 11 walks over his last five starts to just 16 KO's. I look for a high scoring game here on Tuesday as both teams have been putting up big numbers, especially of late. Take the OVER.