- Seven of the last 10 Super Bowl winners had a first-round bye
GREEN BAY, Wis.- The latest Super Bowl betting odds have the Green Bay Packers as Super Bowl favorites with +325 odds. The next shortest odds are the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills at +550 and +750, respectively.
From a seeding perspective, the odds for the Packers make sense. Going into Week 18, the Green Bay Packers have already locked up the top seed in the NFC, which in turn means that they have already secured their conference's first-round bye.
Sportsbooks have the Packers tabbed as +160 favorites to win the NFC Championship.
Teams Looking Forward To Healthy Reinforcements
Key players from the Green Bay Packers and Tennessee Titans appear to be on the mend in time for the playoffs. The Packers have been difficult to get a read on with star players such as Za'Darius Smith, Jaire Alexander, and David Bakhtiari playing minimally all season. Little news has been made of when Smith will return, but Alexander seems to be likely to return for their first game of the postseason.
Bakhtiari was likely to return much earlier this season but had a setback with little news since then. Aaron Rodgers recently said that he thinks Bakhtiari may return soon after seeing him work on the sidelines at practice.
The Tennessee Titans are hoping not just to secure a bye week, but they are also hoping to secure the focal point of their offense, Derrick Henry. The all-pro running back broke his foot on Halloween this past October.
Bye Weeks Are Important In The Playoffs
Having a first-round bye greatly increases the odds that a team gets to and wins the Super Bowl. Over the last 10 seasons, the winning team has had a first-round bye seven times.
Incredibly, the loser in the Super Bowl has had a first-round bye in each of the past ten seasons too. With the playoff format implemented in the 2020 season, only the top seed in each conference can secure a bye week.
With the Tennessee Titans likely to secure the top spot in the AFC Standings, their third shortest Super Bowl 56 odds don't follow suit.
The Titans must beat the Houston Texans during Week 18 to secure that bye week - a game in which the Titans are favored by more than 10 points.
With long odds at +1200, the Titans are a sensible bet for those betting on bye week trends in the NFL playoffs.
Super Bowl Betting Odds Show Value For AFC Contenders
Comparing conference championship odds versus Super Bowl-winning odds shows clear value for the Tennessee Titans and Chiefs. For most teams, their odds to win the Super Bowl are roughly double what their odds are to win their conference championship game.
For the Titans and Chiefs, the odds to win the AFC title games are way shorter than their odds to win the Super Bowl.
Sportsbooks have the Chiefs at +200 odds to win the AFC and +550 to win the Super Bowl. For the Titans, sportsbooks have them at +450 odds to win the Super Bowl but are given +1200 odds to win the whole thing. The Tennessee Titans with +1200 odds to win the Super Bowl with a first-round bye, Derrick Henry getting healthy, and short odds to win the AFC offers a lot of value for Super Bowl sports bettors.
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Brett has been writing professionally since November of 2021. He had such a passion for sports he even decided to major in Sport Management from Florida State University! When not writing about sports, Brett loves playing DFS, bowling, and golfing.