Thursday Night Football is back once again in the NFL this week, and two teams that are fighting and clawing to stay in the playoff race in their respective conferences will do battle, as the Miami Dolphins play host to the Chicago Bears. Check out these NFL props picks for the showdown in South Beach that could be extremely exciting on the NFL Network.

Will Devin Hester Score a Touchdown?
Don’t kid yourself. Though Hester is getting fewer touches this year, if you bet this prop at this price every single game this season, you’ve done fairly well, picking up 1.8 units. Remember that you get punt return touchdowns as well as scores, as any TD is a TD. Hester is probably going to get a ton of chances to return punts in this one, as the Dolphins have plenty of offensive problems to deal with. It only takes one stroke of genius to win this prop, and though we hate betting things like this, we also realize that there are times that the oddsmakers are just off. This is one of those times. Go with Hester to Score a Touchdown (+170 at Hollywood Sportsbook) on Thursday Night Football.

Total Punts Over/Under 9.5
This is a fairly standard prop at a very standard price, but this isn’t such a very standard game that we’re dealing with. These two defenses are built like rocks and are specifically designed to stop the other. Miami has a tremendous pass rush and is good enough up the middle of the defense to be able to hold down a Chicago offensive line that is just atrocious at run blocking. The Bears have the No. 2 rush defense in the game and clearly have the best unit against ground games aside from the Pittsburgh Steelers. Brad Maynard, Chicago’s punter, has booted the ball at least four times all but once this year, and he has kicked at least five punts in six of the Bears’ nine games. This is an incredibly high number of punts for a punter right now. Miami’s punter, Brandon Fields, hasn’t had nearly as much work this year, as he only has booted the pigskin away more than four times twice. However, this could be the ugliest game that either team plays all season long. With NFL odds like this, we have no choice but to go with there to be Over 9.5 punts (-130 at Hollywood Sportsbook).

Anthony Fasano Over/Under 2.5 Receptions
We’re so afraid on NFL props like this one, because we never really know whether recent trends are going to hold true or not. However, we have no choice but to believe here, as Fasano has caught at least three balls in four straight games and has really become a great check down option when things are getting rough. You can bet with the Bears bringing heat off the corner with DE Julius Peppers and company, that QB Tyler Thigpen, assuming that he is the starter, is going to really want to force the ball in to Fasano’s hands at least a few times just to get the big tight end involved and to loosen up the pass rush just a tad. We have to get to at least three catches, right? We’ll take Fasano Over 2.5 Receptions (-130 at Hollywood Sportsbook).