After winning their eighth straight game last week, the New England Patriots remain the favorites to win Super Bowl 52.
On the latest Super Bowl futures odds, the Patriots are listed at +240. That’s the best odds they’ve been given all season, up from +250 last week. New England should make it nine straight wins this weekend as an 11.5-point road favorite against the Miami Dolphins before getting a real test in Week 15 when they face the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaking of the Steelers, they’ve moved up to the No. 2 slot on the Super Bowl futures. The Steelers have won seven in a row and the oddsmakers rewarded them by bumping them up to +450 on the futures.
For the Steelers to move up to second on the odds list, that meant the Philadelphia Eagles had to drop down. The Eagles’ odds took a hit after they had their nine-game winning streak snapped last week by the Seattle Seahawks. The loss caused them to drop from +350 on the odds list to their current spot at +625. It doesn’t get any easier for the Eagles this week as they face the Los Angeles Rams on the road.
Rounding out the top five on the Super Bowl futures are the Minnesota Vikings at +850, New Orleans Saints at +1000 and Rams at +1200.
The Vikings continue to roll, having won eight straight, including wins over the Rams and Atlanta Falcons that moved them up to +850 from +1200. Minnesota will lock up first place in the NFC North with another win, which looks to be all but a given right now.
The Saints took down Carolina last week, maintaining their perfect record against their division this season. With two games remaining against Atlanta, nothing is set in stone for the Saints yet, but a wild-card spot at the least is all but in hand.
The Rams may be up to +1200, but still remain a question mark for the oddsmakers because they have lost to Seattle and Minnesota this season. They get another big test this weekend against Philadelphia, followed by a road game against Seattle. Winning one of those matchups, or both of them if that’s possible, could give the Rams a huge boost on the futures.
The big losers on the Super Bowl futures this week were Atlanta and Carolina.
The Falcons had been on the move up the odds list for the last month before last week’s loss to Minnesota stopped them cold. Atlanta flatlined and dropped to +2500 after peaking at +1200 last week. Things don’t get any easier for Atlanta with two games against New Orleans in the next three weeks.
Carolina was also moving up the odds before losing to New Orleans last week. They’re now at +2800, down from +1800 last week. The Panthers can still win the NFC South with some help, but they have to find a way to end Minnesota’s winning streak this week.