After starting the season 1-4 many football fans and bettors likely left the Miami Dolphins for dead. That may have been premature. After reeling off six straight wins the Dolphins are back in the playoff picture, but they are still big underdogs on the Super Bowl 51 odds.
If the playoffs started today the Dolphins would be in as the second AFC wild card. Despite that they’re still huge +5000 underdogs on the Super Bowl 51 futures. That is up from +6600 a week ago, and the +20,000 odds they had when they were 1-4. Miami will get to prove they’re for real with a road game against the Baltimore Ravens this week, and their biggest test comes down the line in Week 17 when they finish off the regular season against the Super Bowl favorite New England Patriots.
The Patriots continue to top the Super Bowl futures, currently at +240. They’re followed by the Dallas Cowboys at +400 and the Seattle Seahawks at +750. Dallas is up slightly after sitting at +450 odds last week before defeating the Washington Redskins on Thanksgiving.
Seattle’s odds headed the other way after their surprising upset loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Seahawks were +550 before their loss to the Bucs and have since dropped to +750. Seattle has an interesting schedule the rest of the way with the Carolina Panthers and Green Bay Packers in the next two weeks followed by the Los Angeles Rams, who they already lost to once this season.
Looking at the current NFL playoff picture one team currently missing out on the postseason is still getting pretty good odds. The Pittsburgh Steelers are listed at +1400 despite sitting in second in the AFC North and not having enough wins to occupy a wild card spot. Pittsburgh is still well within striking distance in the AFC North, especially with their last three games all against division opponents.
The Steelers’ current position on the odds list actually puts them ahead of eight teams that would be in the postseason right now. That includes the Atlanta Falcons (+1600), Kansas City Chiefs (+1600), New York Giants (+2000) and Detroit Lions (+4000).
Two other non-playoff teams the oddsmakers haven’t given up on yet are the Green Bay Packers and Denver Broncos.
The Packers picked up a much-needed win last week, but they’re still in a tough spot at 5-6 on the season. They did rebound on the Super Bowl odds back up to +2500 from +5000, and their most important games of the season could be in Weeks 16 and 17 when they face Minnesota and Detroit back-to-back.
After losing to Kansas City last week the Broncos are just outside the playoffs at 7-4 and down to +2800 on the odds list. Denver could be in big trouble with three tough games to end the season against New England, Kansas City and Oakland.