NFL Picks Against the Spread Week 1: 4 Picks That Will Make You Money

Apparently on any given Sunday, anything can happen in the NFL! For that reason many people stay away from betting on football.

However when you're looking at things through the spread those risks often shrink while the rewards can be maximized if manipulated in the right way.

Here are four teams worth taking a flier on this weekend.

Chicago Bears (+3) over Atlanta Falcons

Hold on? The Bears are underdogs? At home? Against a dome team?

The Atlanta Falcons are a good team but Vegas seems to have forgotten that they weren't in the NFC Championship last year while the Bears were. The Bears haven't had a great offseason but this one should be close at least.

With a fully healthy Jay Cutler under center the Bears could easily win this game against the Falcons regardless of their underdog tag.

Pittsburgh Steelers (+2.5) over Baltimore Ravens

The Steelers and Ravens' rivalry this year doesn't look like being that big of a deal as the Ravens look to have lost a step behind their AFC North counterparts.

Traveling to Baltimore the Steelers have been given a minimal advantage but in reality they shouldn't even be the underdogs. The Ravens' offensive line has struggled through the preseason and their recent additions will take time to bed in. Time is not on their side however as the Steelers will look to take advantage of that early on.

Offensively the Steelers should spread the field a lot and use their depth at receiver to take advantage of the Ravens' lack of depth in the secondary. Ben Roethlisberger has never lost an NFL game to Joe Flacco and this Sunday doesn't look like being the first time that'll happen.

Tennessee Titans (+3) over Jacksonville Jaguars

In a straight-up match I would take the Tennessee Titans to win this game. When you give them a three-point head start I won't even consider looking at the Jaguars.

Matt Hasselbeck at quarterback can overcome any struggles Chris Johnson has coming off his lengthy holdout, because the Jaguars will struggle to disrupt his comfort zone with a pass rush relying on Aaron Kampman. Hasselbeck has enough talent at receiver to take advantage of the Jaguars' secondary while any help from Javon Ringer or Chris Johnson only further compounds the Jaguars to defeat.

The Jaguars offensively aren't one of the better teams in the league as Maurice Jones-Drew's effectiveness off of offseason knee surgery will be found out early while Eben Britton has struggled with injury and performance all offseason.

Cleveland Browns (-6.5) over Cincinnati Bengals

The Browns may not be an elite team but they have been improving over the years and this year look like closing the gap on the Ravens and Steelers rather than sitting alongside the Bengals at the bottom of the division.

The Bengals are in a horrible state with Andy Dalton at quarterback and their defense looking to be in worse shape than last season.

With Cincinnati traveling to Cleveland, Peyton Hillis' hard running, Colt McCoy's accurate ability in the WCO and the Bengals' offensive struggles, the Browns could easily win this game by more than seven points.