It’s still a long, long road to the NFL Playoffs, and there have been plenty of instances in the past where knee-jerk reactions to early-season patterns have made pundits look foolish. Yet we are certainly seeing some interesting developments in the first few weeks of the season.
Nothing is set in stone yet, but there’s been enough evidence for sportsbooks to start turning the dial up and down on some teams. Here are some of the interesting moves in the Super Bowl markets:
Rams lose a point or two
For a team that started the season as firm favorites for the Super Bowl, things have not gone swimmingly for the Rams. A 1-2 start is nothing to worry about, and many will overlook the opening week loss against the 49ers in Australia after the astonishing decision to fly there the day before the game, but sportsbooks have seen enough to start increasing the odds. DraftKings Sportsbook has pushed the Rams’ odds from +550 to +670 (correct at the time of writing), making them Super Bowl co-favorites with the next team on this list.
The Bills have been impressive
There’s a handful of teams that started 3-0, but none have faced the caliber of teams that the Bills have. They had to dig deep to beat the Lions, Chargers and Texans, and it wasn’t always pretty, but you can understand why sportsbooks have trimmed the Bills’ odds from about +1000 to the +650 region.
The Chiefs look like the Chiefs
In many respects, the Chiefs were the most difficult team to assign odds to before the season began. They had earned so much respect over the last decade and then came the blow-up last season. It’s far too soon to say that they are back at the very top, but the sportsbooks have seen enough to cut their odds almost in half, going from +1800 to +1000 in a few weeks.
The 49ers enter the conversation
The 49ers have looked great, and they have been rewarded with one of the biggest odds cuts in the NFL, moving from +2200 to win the Super Bowl down to +900. You can, however, appreciate that some bettors want more evidence before lumping in.
The Chargers have been massive fallers
You know when you get a team that lots of people claim is underrated, but then the fact that so many are saying it, it becomes a contradiction. That was the view of the Chargers in preseason, and the sentiment looks badly misjudged. Their odds have effectively tripled, now sitting around +6000.
The Packers have also slid
An opening weekend defeat to the Vikings, a narrow victory over the Jets, and a drubbing that nobody saw coming at the hands of the Falcons. Sportsbooks had initially put the Packers on a par with teams like the Bengals and Chargers, but they now sit at odds of around +6500 after a disappointing start to the campaign.
