Steelers, Patriots headline odds to make NFL playoffs in 2018 season
The Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots are the biggest favorites to make the postseason at the sportsbooks, with the Arizona Cardinals at the bottom of the list.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have won at least 10 games and made the playoffs over each of the last four seasons. The Steelers will look to do so again in 2018 with the elite offensive tandem of Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown leading the way.
Pittsburgh is a -550 favorite on the odds to make the playoffs this season at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Bettors brave enough to bet against the Steelers in the fairly weak AFC North can get Pittsburgh at +375 to fail to advance.
While the Steelers are the second biggest favorite to make the postseason at -550, their odds are dwarfed by the New England Patriots, who are going off at the hefty price of -1500 to make the postseason (and +800 not to make the playoffs). With 14 AFC East titles over the last 15 seasons and at least 10 wins in every one of those seasons, the Patriots are about as close to a lock as it gets; but at this price, an injury to the 41-year-old Tom Brady would not make for a fun spot.
Over in the NFC, the top two favorites to advance to the playoffs are the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles (Yes -270, No +210) and the Minnesota Vikings (Yes -260, No +200). There isn’t much to dislike about either of these Super Bowl contenders; both have elite defenses, elite starting quarterbacks and reliable backup quarterbacks.
Bettors looking for teams that are a bit less pricey to make the playoffs might be interested in the Green Bay Packers (Yes -170, No +140) and the Los Angeles Rams (Yes -180, No +150). The Rams had an incredible offseason and should be one of the top teams in the league this year, and Green Bay is virtually a shoo-in for a playoff spot if Aaron Rodgers stays healthy.
On the futility side, the teams most likely to miss the playoffs are the Arizona Cardinals (-1500 to miss the playoffs, +800 to make them) and the New York Jets (-1000 miss, +600 make). Despite owning only one win over the last two full seasons, Cleveland is ahead of these two teams and tied with Miami at -900 to miss the playoffs (and +550 to make them).
For more odds information, betting picks and a breakdown of this week’s top sports betting news check out the OddsShark podcast with Jon Campbell and Andrew Avery. Subscribe on iTunes or listen to it at OddsShark.libsyn.com.