Sports Then and Now

Larry Fitzgerald and the Arizona Cardinals have the best record in football, but are still not the favorites to reach the Super Bowl.

We are now heading into Week 12 in the NFL and the teams have started to really define themselves as contenders or pretenders for this year’s Super Bowl.  With almost every team having played 10 games thus far the playoff picture has really started to present itself as teams get ready for the stretch run.

Below I’ll look at some of the favorites and include their current odds from reputable sportsbook Bovada.lv.  According to this Bovada sportsbook review, they’re a great sportsbook for American bettors.

Arizona Cardinals 10/1

One surprise is the team that currently leads the NFL with a 9-1 record.  The Arizona Cardinals have had a remarkable year so far, posting this record in arguably the toughest division in the National Football League.  With the Cards performing so well, the Seahawks and 49ers, who have been at the top of the league for the past few seasons are in a real tough spot when it comes to qualifying for the playoffs. Not all is good with the Cards though.  They lost their franchise quarterback Carson Palmer for the remainder of the season.  They won their first game without Palmer under center last week over a strong Lions team, so all might not be lost.  According to Bovada Sportsbook, even though they have the best record in the NFL, the Cards are still only the 4^th favorites to win the Super Bowl with odds of 10/1.

Let’s look at the 3 teams being given a better shot than the Cards.

New England Patriots 4/1

The Pats are looking like a Championship contender once again.  They’re 8-2 on the season and are currently riding a 6 game winning streak.  The Pats are currently tied with the Green Bay Packers as having the best point differential in the league at +105 and Tom Brady and company look like they haven’t lost a step having scored the second most points in the league to this point.

Add in the fact that the Pats simply blew out the Colts and the Broncos, two top end teams in their last two games and you can see why this team is a 4/1 favorite to win the Super Bowl this season.

Green Bay Packers 9/2

The Packers are in a very similar situation to the Patriots and they’ve been given almost the same odds to win the Super Bowl.  As I mentioned they’re also +105 in points for the season, but they’re the most potent offense in the league, lead by Aaron Rodgers, who I think is the best QB in the NFL.

The Packers though are only 7-3 and they’re in a race with the Lions to win the NFC North division.  They’ve scored over 50 points in the last two weeks though and really seem to be clicking right now so I expect them to be able to finish strong and claim that division title.

After getting knocked down by the St. Louis Rams, Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos will look to bounce back to Super Bowl form.

Denver Broncos 19/4

It’s a little surprising to see Peyton Manning and the Broncos here as the third favorite.  But they haven’t been nearly as dominant this season as they were in the last one and they’re offense is only 5^th in the league.  The Broncos probably shouldn’t be so close to the Pats and Packers in terms of odds, but the Peyton factor definitely comes into play.

49ers 12/1 and Seahawks 16/1

After the Cards you have the 49ers and Seahawks who were both expected to once again be contenders this season, but have struggled to identical 6-4 records.  Neither of these teams are catching the 9-1 Cards this season, so they will have to battle it out to get a wild card spot.

Both of these teams started out as 7/1 favorites to win the Super Bowl this season, only behind the Broncos.   It’s still too early to give up on these teams and I personally think that the Seahawks are going to turn things around.  They might have had a bit of a Super Bowl hangover, but if they can’t get into the post season this team knows how to win behind Russell Wilson.

So there are the current 6 favorites to win the Super Bowl this season.  Will one of these teams take it or will another team such as the Cowboys or Colts swoop in and get the job done?