Best bets for Super Bowl LI
The dust has settled on the 2015-16 National Football League season. The Denver Broncos are the ones who find themselves covered in confetti, while the Carolina Panthers are the only team to ever go 15-1 in the regular season and not win the Super Bowl.
Incredibly, it feels as though that championship game was a lifetime ago, with the 2016 season already beginning to ramp up. NFL free agency starts officially on March 9, although the tampering window (and this all of the deals in principle) begins on March 7 at 4 p.m. EST. Before that, we have the NFL Scouting Combine that runs from Feb. 23 throughout the end of the month, with players coming to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Of course, we can’t be waiting for all of that to look at the teams with the best odds to be in Houston next February for Super Bowl LI. Some might expect the Broncos to be at the top of the heap after winning a title only weeks ago, but that would be a foolish thought. Instead, it is a three-way tie at the top, with the New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers all sitting at 8/1, according to Vegas Insider.
While all three of those teams are consistently near the top, only one is a good bet to get to Super Bowl LI. Seattle is a great team but one that is about to go through all kinds of changes this offseason. For starters, the Seahawks have limited cap space and a litany of free agents including cornerback Jeremy Lane, left tackle Russell Okung, receiver Jermaine Kearse and outside linebacker Bruce Irvin. In addition, the Seahawks have already lost running back Marshawn Lynch to retirement.
The Steelers are another sucker bet. Pittsburgh has a tremendous offense thanks to the prolific talents of Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant and Le’Veon Bell, but the team is strapped for cash and the defense is suspect. Pittsburgh is a good team but one with far too many flaws to win the game’s ultimate prize, barring a tremendous draft that yields immediate results on defense.
The best bets? Look at the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs. Dallas is listed at 14/1 and will be playing in a bad NFC East and against a fourth-place schedule. If Tony Romo can avoid breaking a clavicle, Dallas will roll to one of the top records in the NFL. The Cowboys could very well be the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs when Christmas rolls around.
For the Chiefs, they finally broke their playoff hex and have an incredibly easy schedule. Kansas City plays the AFC and NFC South divisions and should clean up in the AFC West, where it went 5-1 in 2015. Considering Denver is going to be starting Brock Osweiler or a cast-off at quarterback in 2016, the Chiefs are a great pick to not only reach the playoffs but win their division, get a bye in the AFC playoffs and make a serious run.
