The Kansas City Chiefs have barely finished celebrating their epic last-gasp win over the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl and already, attentions are turning toward next season and the Super Bowl betting odds.
Making predictions 12 months ahead of time is a fool’s errand and is something you’ll never catch us doing. That said we don’t have a team of industry leading analysts at our beck and call to give us all the latest mathematical probabilities on every team in the NFL.
That level of knowledge and resource is something that only the leading sportsbooks are privy to, so if we want to get a good gauge on who the main runners and riders will be next season we have to look at the Super Bowl odds.
Here are the five favourites according to those odds…
Detroit Lions
Things went well for the Lions last season. They finished the regular season with a 12-5 record to top the NFC North and looked impressive in the early rounds of the playoffs. The first team to fall to the Lions were the Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card round.
Then came the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who were put to the sword comprehensively in the Divisional Round. Ultimately however, the Lions season came to an end when they met the San Francisco 49ers in the Conference Championship.
Only losing out 34-31 though will have given the Lions confidence that they are not too far of the best in the division and with one or two acquisitions in the summer could see themselves rising up the Super Bowl odds list.
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(The Lions had the Super Bowl in their sights after this victory but unfortunately for them and their fans, it wasn’t’ to be.)
Buffalo Bills
Another team with a good season under their belts were the Buffalo Bills. Finishing the regular season with an 11-6 record the Bills topped the AFC East to qualify for the playoffs. The Pittsburgh Steelers’ were dispatched 31-17 in the Wild Card round before their Super Bowl dreams were dashed by the Chiefs in the Divisional Round.
Similarly to the Lions, the Bills only lost out narrowly to the Chiefs (27-24) and have every reason to believe that they are up there with the best in the league. Narrowly losing out to the eventual winners of the Super Bowl is nothing to be ashamed of and who knows, perhaps it can provide them with motivation to go even further next season.
Baltimore Ravens
At the time of writing the Ravens are third favourites to win the Vince Lombardi trophy next season and there’s not much between them and the two teams above them in the Super Bowl odds. During the regular season the Ravens ran up an impressive 13-4 record which obviously saw them finish top of the AFC North.
There was however one fly in the ointment and that fly came in the shape of 11 players wearing Kansas City Chiefs jerseys in the Conference Championship game. The Ravens came up short in that encounter, losing 17-10 but again, there’s no great shame in running out second best to the Chiefs.
Patrick Mahomes’ team are the yard stick when it comes to footballing excellence and better teams than the Ravens have lost to the Chiefs. To progress next season though the Ravens will need to take on some of the characteristics that make the Chiefs a well-oiled winning machine.
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(Beating the Chiefs proved to be a bridge too far for the Ravens in the playoffs.)
Kansas City Chiefs
Currently the reigning champions are second favourites to repeat the feat in next season’s Super Bowl odds. That feels wrong. Sure no team has ever won three consecutive championships in the Super Bowl era but if there’s one team that could, it’s this current incarnation of the Kansas City Chiefs.
During the regular season they were criticised for not playing well enough, for not being fluid or dynamic. During the playoffs they had to travel away to face in-form team after in-form team and still they triumphed.
Then in the Super Bowl itself they had to overcome one of the most impressive teams in recent NFL history and still they triumphed, even when the clock and the score was against them. So whilst the Super Bowl odds mightn’t have them as favourites for next season, we do.
San Francisco 49ers
The Super Bowl odds have this season’s runners up as the favourites to lift the Vince Lombardi trophy in 2025 and we understand why. Barring the decisive moments against the Kansas City Chiefs the 49ers were by far and away the standout team in the NFL last season.
They blew away the competition in the regular season and overcame a series of tough challenges in the playoffs to get to the Super Bowl. What cost them in the big game was that elite level know how that their opponents possessed.
The sportsbooks seem to think that the dramatic loss to the Chiefs will have taught this 49ers that know-how and have them as the outright favourites to be the ones celebrating in February 2025.
