The Detroit Lions began the season on no one’s Super Bowl list. Before the season kicked off the Lions were a +5000 underdog on the Super Bowl 51 odds. In their division alone that was worse than the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings, and barely better than the Chicago Bears.
Detroit has since surpassed both Green Bay and Minnesota in the division and the futures, listed at +2500. The Lions are getting attention by the oddsmakers and bettors after winning their last four games both straight up and against the spread and seven of their last eight games. That includes four wins as the underdog. Detroit will get to prove if they are a contender late in the season with their final two games against the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay.
While the Lions make their move up the Super Bowl futures the New England Patriots remain the favorite at +290. That’s actually down a little from last week when they were at +240. The reason may be the loss of tight end Rob Gronkowski for the season.
Following the Patriots on the Super Bowl odds again this week are the Dallas Cowboys at +350 and the Seattle Seahawks at +525. Both are up slightly, the Cowboys from +400 and the Seahawks from +750.
Two other risers that bettors may want to keep an eye on are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Indianapolis Colts.
The Buccaneers have taken over the second wild card spot in the NFC after winning their last four games. They’re also on the doorstep in the NFC South, tied with the Atlanta Falcons at 7-5, but in second due to the tiebreaker currently going Atlanta’s way.
On the Super Bowl 51 futures the Buccaneers are listed at +5000, up from +6600 a week ago. Even though Tampa Bay can still win the division they may prefer the wild card route and a road journey through the postseason. Tampa Bay have been road warriors so far this season with a 5-1 record on the road, compared to a 2-4 mark at home.
The Colts aren’t in a playoff spot right now, but anything can still happen in the awful AFC South. At 6-6 the Colts are tied with division leaders the Houston Texans, but like Tampa Bay they’re losing the tiebreaker. Something has to give this week, as they face Houston at home.
This week on the Super Bowl odds the Colts are up to +2000 from +5000 a week ago. If they can get past Houston this weekend those odds should improve. If you think a Super Bowl bet on the Colts is worth it this week may give you the most profitable odds you’ll get the rest of the season.
Heading down the odds list this week are the Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta has dropped to +2500 from +1600 thanks to a close loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Atlanta’s playoff chances look to be ok though, with their last four games all against beatable teams, the Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints.