The Colts and Texans opened the NFL Week 5 schedule last night in Houston and, in spite of Andrew Luck’s continued absence, Indy prevailed 27-20 over its AFC South rival. Chuck Pagano’s squad now owns a 2.5 game lead in the division, which is considered the weakest in the league.

Sunday’s lineup finds the Patriots, Broncos, Bengals and Packers looking to extend what are fairly significant early division leads as well. And they are all favored to do so, drawing spreads of -9.5, -4.5, -3 and -9, respectively. The public is in love with them at those numbers too. New England and Denver are taking 88 and 77-percent of the betting share while Cincy and Green Bay are each getting 62-percent of the against the spread money.

Sunday, October 11 –

Chicago Bears at Kansas City Chiefs (-9, Over/Under 45, 54% backing the Bears ATS): Jay Cutler stepped back under center for Chicago last week and his presence paid dividends. The Bears registered their first win of the season, defeating the favored Raiders (yes, I said favored) 22-20 at Soldier Field. This week the signal calling curmudgeon will take aim at a Chiefs defense that has been an utter disappointment, ranking dead last — along with Chicago — is points per game allowed with a 31.2 average. And say what? The Bears are getting nine points. Well, the Chiefs may own the same 1-3 record as Chicago, but the talent level between the two teams is still considered a wide one. Da Bears are also 0-5 in their last five games playing on the road off a home game and they dropped those five games by an average of 16.2 points per contest.