A very important thing to remember for this upcoming preseason is that there will be 4 new head coaches this season, so previous preseason trends for these teams are no longer valid. However I have found some nice hidden trends that can still show us a profit with these teams.

Here are the 4 teams with new head coaches for the upcoming season:

Atlanta - Mike Smith

Baltimore - John Harbaugh

Miami - Tony Sparano

Washington – Jim Zorn

OK so here are this year’s highly rated preseason money making trends for each NFC North team.

NFC North

Chicago – The Bears under Lovie Smith has just been another team with only a .500 record over the past 3 preseason’s going 6-6.  However a monster preseason total play has developed over the years with Chicago.  The Bears have seen the 'under' go 5-0 in their last preseason game of the year the past 5 years with 4 of these were against the Browns. This match up occurs again this year on August 30th when the Bears play Cleveland on the road.

Probable preseason quarterback rotations: Rex Grossman, Kyle Orton, Caleb Hanie, Nick Hill

Detroit – Talk about a team that doesn’t like to play preseason games and that’s the Detroit Lions. In each of the past 4 years the Lions have gone 1-3 against the spread which adds up to a 4-12 record. Plus they are a perfect 0-4 in their annual dress rehearsal game for the preseason.  In this year’s dress rehearsal game the Lions have to play a Browns team that loves to win in the preseason. 

Probable preseason quarterback rotations: Jon Kitna, Dan Orlovsky, and Drew Stanton

Green Bay – In his first year as head coach of the Packers Mike McCarthy showed no signs of being interested in winning preseason games as Green Bay went 1-3 against the spread and last year Green Bay could only manage a 2-2 record.  The Packers have also been blown out in their last 3 dress rehearsal game being outscored 96-33.  With a very poor quarterback rotation in place for this year look for the Green Bay preseason woes to continue once again especially in week # 3 when they have to go play the Broncos in their dress rehearsal game.

NFC North

Chicago – The Bears under Lovie Smith has just been another team with only a .500 record over the past 3 preseason’s going 6-6.  However a monster preseason total play has developed over the years with Chicago.  The Bears have seen the 'under' go 5-0 in their last preseason game of the year the past 5 years with 4 of these were against the Browns. This match up occurs again this year on August 30th when the Bears play Cleveland on the road.

Probable preseason quarterback rotations: Rex Grossman, Kyle Orton, Caleb Hanie, Nick Hill

Detroit – Talk about a team that doesn’t like to play preseason games and that’s the Detroit Lions. In each of the past 4 years the Lions have gone 1-3 against the spread which adds up to a 4-12 record. Plus they are a perfect 0-4 in their annual dress rehearsal game for the preseason.  In this year’s dress rehearsal game the Lions have to play a Browns team that loves to win in the preseason. 

Probable preseason quarterback rotations: Jon Kitna, Dan Orlovsky, and Drew Stanton

Green Bay – In his first year as head coach of the Packers Mike McCarthy showed no signs of being interested in winning preseason games as Green Bay went 1-3 against the spread and last year Green Bay could only manage a 2-2 record.  The Packers have also been blown out in their last 3 dress rehearsal game being outscored 96-33.  With a very poor quarterback rotation in place for this year look for the Green Bay preseason woes to continue once again especially in week # 3 when they have to go play the Broncos in their dress rehearsal game.

 Probable preseason quarterback rotations:  Aaron Rogers, Brian Brohm, Matt Flynn

Minnesota – In his first 2 years as the head coach of the Vikings Brad Childress has started to show some trends that can help us make some money this preseason. It’s obvious that Brad Childress does not care about the opening preseason game as he just goes thru the motions losing both in low scoring games. While he is one of the few coaches that actually tries to win the final preseason game as the Vikings have covered against the Cowboys over the past 2 years.  

Minnesota – In his first 2 years as the head coach of the Vikings Brad Childress has started to show some trends that can help us make some money this preseason. It’s obvious that Brad Childress does not care about the opening preseason game as he just goes thru the motions losing both in low scoring games. While he is one of the few coaches that actually tries to win the final preseason game as the Vikings have covered against the Cowboys over the past 2 years.