NFL Week 13 Preview: Odds and Betting Trends

It may not be considered a lucky number in an unlucky year that is 2020, but Week 13 of the 2020 NFL season is a very important one for many teams hoping to make the playoffs. With seven teams making the postseason from each conference, long-shot teams like the Las Vegas Raiders (6-5), New England Patriots (5-6), Minnesota Vikings (5-6), Chicago Bears (5-6) and San Francisco 49ers (5-6) still find themselves in the mix despite inconsistent play this year.

The odds might be stacked against the Raiders, Patriots, Vikings, Bears and 49ers, but a strong finish to the regular season may be good enough to get one or more of them into the postseason. Three of them (Las Vegas, Minnesota and Chicago) are favored in Week 13 on the NFL odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com, one (New England) is involved in a pick’em matchup and another (San Francisco) is being forced to host the Monday Night Football game away from home in Arizona. That is 2020 in a nutshell.

The Raiders are listed as consensus eight-point road favorites at betting sites visiting the winless New York Jets (0-11) on Sunday and lost there 34-3 last year in a nearly identical situation as 3.5-point chalk. In fact, Las Vegas has dropped six straight at New York according to the OddsShark NFL Database, going 1-5 against the spread and losing those games by an average of nearly 14 points. The Vikings host the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars (1-10) as 9.5-point home favorites and have won the past four meetings by an average of a little more than 10 points per game.

The Bears are three-point home favorites against the Detroit Lions (4-7) and will be looking to end a five-game losing streak since surprisingly starting the season at 5-1. The Patriots will then visit the Los Angeles Chargers (3-8) later in the day for the first time ever at SoFi Stadium, and they have won the previous five meetings played in San Diego both straight up and ATS.

The 49ers wrap up Week 13 by hosting the Buffalo Bills (8-3) as underdogs between 2.5 and three points. San Francisco is not able to play home games in Santa Clara County due to COVID-19 restrictions banning contact sports for at least the next three weeks. The 49ers will also host the Washington Football Team there in Week 14.

Other big games of note with small point spreads include the Indianapolis Colts (7-4) at Houston Texans (4-7), New Orleans Saints (9-2) at Atlanta Falcons (4-7) and Los Angeles Rams (7-4) at Arizona Cardinals (6-5). The Colts, Saints and Rams are all three-point road favorites.

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