The 14 teams that have made the latest edition of the NFL playoffs are set, and the slate is up for Saturday and Sunday, each day with a triple-header in the wild card round. The Kansas City Chiefs (AFC) and the Green Bay Packers (NFC) are the top seeds in each conference and have a bye through to the divisional round. The other three divisional winners each have a wild card opponent coming to town this weekend. Right now, the Chiefs are the favorite (+190) to win the Super Bowl) with Green Bay as the second choice (+500).
Let’s take a look at some of the possible Super Bowl contenders as you figure out your sports betting strategy.
NFL News: Possible Super Bowl Matchups
Green Bay Packers vs Kansas City Chiefs
This was the first Super Bowl matchup, back when the teams played in different leagues, and it would certainly be a retro game. However, Kansas City has not looked like a dominant team since their seventh game, when they rolled the Jets. In their last seven wins, they won by an average of just 3.9 points per game. They fell in Week 17 against the Chargers, with the top seed already in their pockets. It seems like the Chiefs have been going through the motion for several months now, just flipping the switch now and then when they need to. If you look back at last year’s playoffs, the Chiefs overcame double-digit deficits in each of their three postseason wins, becoming the first team ever to do that in one playoff. Can the Chiefs really keep playing with fire and keep winning?
Green Bay looked just about as soft as Kansas City until their 40-14 shellacking of the Tennessee Titans. Aaron Rodgers has posted a 48:5 TD:INT ratio this season, and wide receiver Davante Adams caught 18 of those scoring passes, among his 115 receptions on the season. The defense occasionally wilted, giving up at least 30 points in four different games. If these two teams meet, it would make sense to take the “over,” given how much both teams score, and how iffy both of the defenses can be.
Getting that top seed is important for the bye, but it is also significant for another reason — home field advantage all the way to the Super Bowl. Playoff games in both of those cities will bring brutal cold; in Green Bay, snow is more likely, but winter weather can happen on both fields. That won’t affect Buffalo (who also plays outdoors in the cold), but how about dome teams like New Orleans and the Colts, or warm weather teams like the Buccaneers?
There are some other interesting matchups to consider, of course. How about Buffalo vs Green Bay? Josh Allen has taken off as a quarterback this season, and the team has been scoring points in bunches as a result. Their last three wins of the season, routs of Denver, New England and Miami, have them as the hottest team in the AFC going into the postseason. New England might seem like a team heading into rebuild, but they did put a 45-0 beating on the Chargers…who turned around and beat Kansas City, and the Dolphins won ten games this season, almost beating Buffalo in their first matchup of the year.
How about New Orleans? Frankly, I don’t see them going to Green Bay and winning in that cold environment. Dome teams just don’t go into cold-weather stadiums and win, and New Orleans is a prime example. The fact that Drew Brees just came back from fractured ribs and a collapsed lung makes that scenario even less likely, especially with a savvy Aaron Rodgers across the field.
And then there’s Tampa Bay, who looked like they might miss the playoffs before their hot run to finish the season. They would be the first team to host a Super Bowl if they make it that far. The first round (a visit to Washington) should be easy, but after that, a trip to New Orleans to play a Saints team that handled them easily in both of their regular season matchups, would await them. But it is hard to beat a team three times in one season, so…
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