With the preseason about to kick off, let’s look at the latest odds from Ceasars Palace and BetOnline on the top four Super Bowl favorites for the upcoming season.
We have the New England Patriots toping the list once again, along with the Kansas City Chiefs, the New Orleans Saints, and Chicago Bears rounding four favorites for the 2019-2020 NFL season.
The New England Patriots +700
At seven to one, the Patriots have the shortest odds on the boards. It’s amazing to think that they have won the AFC East (also counting AFL) 21 times! And it’s looking like they are going to hunt down their 22nd division title in 2019.
The Pats have suffered some severe losses over the last couple of offseasons, but the system that Belichick has put into place runs on well-oiled machine-like, fundamental football. So, new additions always seem to fit right, and the Pats offense takes chunks of yardage from defenses year after year … and remains one of the hardest offenses to get off the field.
The main reason that the Pats are heavy favorites is because of their division. They have the clearest path into a first-week bye in the NFL. The Dolphins are a complete and total mess, and although the Jets and Bills are coming up, they are not quite a significant just yet.
The Kansas City Chiefs +750
The Chiefs are hot off a sensational season where Patrick Mahomes was the League MVP. But can we expect back-to-back MVP-like seasons from Mahomes? Some are expecting to see significant regression in 2019. Plus, Mahomes is sans one of the players that helped him along the way to his fantastic season. Kareem Hunt, his duel purpose running back has gone to Cleveland.
It was looking like the team might have lost two stars, but the NFL has elected not to suspend Tyreek Hill. He is reporting back to camp this week. But things like this can create some strain with team dynamics, and we have to wonder if the Chiefs will be as cohesive of a unit as they were last season. That said, they are still loaded with talent, and if there is any team in the AFC that can knock out the Pats, it’s these guys.
The New Orleans Saints +850
Many feel like the Saints got robbed last year. And whether or not the Rams moved on via a technicality, we all got robbed of the Super Bowl we wanted to see: Brees vs. Brady. But the Saints are back and last season we saw Drew Brees defy his age. If he does that again this year, we are likely to see the Saints go deep into the playoffs. Perhaps, this time around they can knock out the Rams and head to the Super Bowl. But they’ll have to get by the Bears in the NFC as well.
The Chicago Bears +900
Mitch Trubisky is starting to become that franchise QB that the Bears moved up for a few years ago. Remember … it seemed like such a dumb move to jump that one position in the draft and everyone felt like John Lynch totally worked over the Bears organization. Well, where are the 49ers now, and where are the Bears? Here’s where 40-1. The Niners are +4000 to win the Super Bowl which is in the bottom two-thirds of the league, while the Bears sit at 9-1 and round out the top four.
The Bears defense is going to be even better this year, Roquan Smith has some experience under his belt, and now they’ve got a great defensive mind in Chick Pagano heading up their D. On top of this, it’s Nagy’s second year at the helm, and this is usually when we start to see the offense click under a new head coach. Bottom line, look out for the Da Bears in 2019.
