In September, there were 32, by the turn of the year there were 12, and now, with only three weeks until SuperBowl LIV, there are just eight remaining NFL franchises battling it out for one of sport’s greatest prizes.
In what has been the NFL’s 100th season, it has certainly been a year worthy of celebration. With an off season dominated by Antonio Brown and his antics, becoming public enemy number one and rubbing up more teams than was previously thought possible, we then said goodbye to Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback Andrew Luck who retired at just 29 years of age, and Colin Kaeperneck continued to dominate headlines despite being out of work. During the season itself, multiple teams proved the bookmakers wrong, with the Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns all failing to make the play-offs.
Last weekend’s wildcard round provided some shocks. Huge favourites New England Patriots lost to massive underdogs Tennessee Titans 20-13. This is the first time in four years the Patriots will not play in the Super Bowl, and the first time they have failed to reach the Divisional round of the playoffs since 2009. The Titans are still the least favourites to win the Super Bowl, let alone reach it. They play away to the Baltimore Ravens and are 33/10 to clinch the victory this Saturday. The Ravens meanwhile are the in form team and this is illustrated by their odds, they are 2/9 to win this weekend and 2/1 to become Super Bowl champions next month.
Staying in the AFC, with perhaps the fixture of the divisional round, AFC South Champions Houston Texans travel to no. 2 seed the Kansas City Chiefs, pitting Deshaun Watson of the Texans up against Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs, two of the best quarterbacks in the game. Despite Houston’s last gasp winner against Buffalo in their wildcard game, it is Kansas City that are the overwhelming favourites to progress to the next round at 2/9, with the Texans only 33/10 as they aim to become the first team to win at Arrowhead Field since October. The Chiefs are one of the favourites to go all the way, with odds of 7/2 to lift the famous Vince Lombardi trophy on 2nd February.
In the NFC Divisional Round games, Seattle travel to Green Bay and San Francisco play host to Minnesota. The two homes sides are the top two seeds in their conference and the bookmakers would seem to agree. The Green Bay Packers are just 1/2 to beat the Seattle Seahawks who are 8/5. This promises to be a high scoring game, with the total points being over 47 having odds of 10/11.
Perhaps the most closely contested of the weekend could be the first fixture on Saturday, the Minnesota Vikings, riding high after their upset over the New Orleans Saints, travel west to face the San Francisco 49ers. The Vikings are 13/5 to win and 14/1 to come from behind at halftime. The hosts, with Jimmy Garoppolo leading the line from quarterback, are on fire. They won their first eight games of the regular season and ended it with a victory over the Seahawks just a couple of weeks ago. The 49ers are 3/10 to win and go through to the NFC Championship game, and are 10/3 to become Super Bowl champions for a sixth time.
With the Patriots being knocked out so early, the door has been swung wide open for all the other teams to win Super Bowl LIV, but the bet that could end up being a real winner is the Seattle Seahawks at 12/1 to win only their second Super Bowl. Recently buoyed by the return of fans favourite running back Marshawn Lynch, who even on a bad day strikes fear into the heart of any NFL player, the Seahawks are definitely dark horses to repeat their feats of the 2013 season. Star quarterback Russell Wilson is back in top form and the team have had their first winning season since winning the Super Bowl. They will have to beat three teams ranked higher than them, but at 12/1 they are certainly worth keeping an eye on.