But of course odds for Super Bowl XLVI are already out -- what have you been doing all night? It's no surprise that the Green Bay Packers take the top spot, followed closely behind by the 14-2 New England Patriots, whose quarterback just won the first-ever consensus NFL MVP award. The Super Bowl-losing Pittsburgh Steelers check in next, and then -
Why hello there, San Diego Chargers, the team that couldn't make the playoffs to begin with. This looks like a really smart number to me. Vegas knows the Chargers are never, ever going to win the Super Bowl or anything else, because they are the San Diego Chargers. But they know that you know the Chargers have a lot of really good players who produce great stats. So the Chargers seem like a good value, even at 12/1, even though they're not.
The Atlanta Falcons suffer the distinction of being tied with the Dallas Cowboys, who ended up with a losing record, but also the New York Jets, who reached the AFC Championship Game. The Cowboys are always an outlier in these things, as their fans will bet on absolutely anything no matter how many times the team loses. I do like Dallas next year, though, but learned my lesson for good this year.
Elsewhere around the NFC South the New Orleans Saints check in just ahead of the Falcons at 14/1, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers might be the most underrated team on the board at 35/1, and the Carolina Panthers bring up the rear at 100/1, which is a fine number because you're only betting on them if you think there's going to be a lockout anyway and you just want to see what happens.
- Green Bay Packers: 7/1
- New England Patriots: 8/1
- Pittsburgh Steelers: 10/1
- San Diego Chargers: 12/1
- Baltimore Ravens: 14/1
- Indianapolis Colts: 14/1
- New Orleans Saints: 14/1
- Atlanta Falcons: 16/1
- Dallas Cowboys: 16/1
- New York Jets: 16/1
- Philadelphia Eagles: 16/1
- New York Giants: 20/1
- Chicago Bears: 22/1
- Houston Texans: 35/1
- Minnesota Vikings: 35/1
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 35/1
- San Francisco 49ers: 40/1
- St. Louis Rams: 40/1
- Tennessee Titans: 40/1
- Kansas City Chiefs: 45/1
- Miami Dolphins
- Detroit Lions: 50/1
- Oakland Raiders: 50/1
- Washington Redskins: 50/1
- Cincinnati Bengals: 60/1
- Cleveland Browns: 60/1
- Denver Broncos: 60/1
- Jacksonville Jaguars: 60/1
- Arizona Cardinals: 75/1
- Seattle Seahawks: 85/1
- Buffalo Bills: 100/1
- Carolina Panthers: 100/1