The race to Super Bowl LIV is down to four teams in the AFC and four teams in the NFC. The Divisional Round of the playoffs pits the four winning teams from the Wild Card round as road underdogs against the top two seeds from each conference.
A bye week and home field give those top seeds a significant edge to advance to the conference title games that will decide that actual matchup in this season’s Super Bowl.
The top two teams in each conference also have a significant edge in the updated NFL futures odds at BetOnline to eventually go on to win Super Bowl LIV in Miami on Sunday, Feb. 2.
AFC Super Bowl Futures Odds
The heaviest favorite to win Super Bowl LIV is the 14-2 Baltimore Ravens at +200. Coming off last week’s bye, they bring a 12-game winning streak into Saturday night’s divisional playoff game against Tennessee. The Ravens are favored by nine points, and they should remain favored to win any future postseason match they play.
The Kansas City Chiefs have the next best odds in the AFC to win the Super Bowl at +350. It is hard to see Houston pulling off an upset on Sunday as 9.5-point road underdogs, so Kansas City should get another shot to earn a Super Bowl berth on the road the following Sunday against Baltimore.
No matter which team wins the AFC title, this conference has already been opened as a 3.5-point favorite against the NFC.
I agree that Baltimore and Kansas City are the two most complete teams left in the playoffs. I also believe that the Chiefs’ recent playoff experience will be the difference in the AFC Championship. I will go with Patrick Mahomes over Lamar Jackson at the quarterback position and Andy Reid over John Harbaugh as the respective head coaches.
Tennessee’s odds to stun the field and win the AFC are +1000 with +2000 odds to go all the way. Houston has even longer +2000 odds to win the AFC with Super Bowl odds of +4000 as the longest of the eight remaining teams.
NFC Futures Odds
The San Francisco 49ers stunned the betting world this season in their run to the No. 1 seed in the NFC. In their first playoff appearance since 2013, the 49ers are +350 second-favorites to win Super Bowl LIV.
They will have to get by Minnesota this Saturday afternoon as seven-point home favorites and then beat the winner of the Seattle at Green Bay game to punch their ticket to Miami. There is no doubt that San Francisco has the best defensive unit of any remaining playoff teams. However, they have a quarterback that has never started a game on the NFL’s biggest stage.
I do believe that experience will also play a significant role in a probable conference title matchup between the Packers and 49ers in San Francisco on Sunday, Jan. 19. You could give the slight coaching edge to San Francisco behind Kyle Shanahan with Matt LaFleur in his first season with Green Bay.
The more significant edge that will carry Green Bay to Super Bowl LIV is future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers over San Francisco’s Jimmy Garoppolo.
Seattle’s odds to win the Super Bowl are +1200, followed by +1600 for Minnesota. Either one is just too much of reach.
Super Bowl LIV Betting Prediction
With Kansas City representing the AFC and Green Bay winning the NFC title, I am going with the Chiefs to win it all. Reid will finally accomplish with Kansas City what he could not get done in Philadelphia.
