Super Bowl odds: Ravens the new favorites after MNF statement
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Only one team in NFL history has won three consecutive games in a season by at least 34 points. That club is now the favorite to win the Super Bowl.
Fresh off dismantling the Rams on Monday night, the Baltimore Ravens sit atop the oddsboard as 3-1 favorites to win it all, knocking defending champion New England off the top spot for the first time all season. The last time the Ravens didn't win by at least 34 points was in Week 9 when they bullied the Patriots in a 37-20 win.
That win gave Baltimore the head-to-head tiebreaker over New England, which could loom large in determining home-field advantage in the AFC. Oddsmakers told theScore that if those two met in the playoffs, the Ravens would be 4-point favorites at home but 1.5-point underdogs in New England.
Baltimore is riding a seven-game winning streak - with four wins against teams above .500 - into this week's clash with San Francisco (7-1 to win the Super Bowl). The 49ers blew out Green Bay on Sunday night in similarly dominant fashion.
Still, San Francisco can't match what the Ravens have done on their way to the top spot on the board. Baltimore is the first team to win four straight games against winning teams by more than 100 points combined, and its +184 point differential is the best by any team since the eventual Super Bowl champion Saints in 2009.
The advanced metrics like the Ravens, too. They're first in weighted DVOA and the only team with a top-five rank on offense (1) and defense (4).
This week's dominant win ended any discussion of Russell Wilson being favored over Lamar Jackson for this year's MVP. After throwing five touchdowns in his Monday night debut, the second-year phenom is 1-3 to win the award ahead of Wilson (7-2), with Dak Prescott (20-1) and Christian McCaffrey (25-1) as distant long shots.
Here are the updated Super Bowl odds entering Week 13, with a few teams having seen notable movement:
Teams listed with odds shorter than 100-1
| TEAM | ODDS |
|---|---|
| Ravens | 3-1 |
| Patriots | 7-2 |
| Saints | 4-1 |
| 49ers | 7-1 |
| Chiefs | 10-1 |
| Seahawks | 12-1 |
| Vikings | 12-1 |
| Packers | 18-1 |
| Cowboys | 25-1 |
| Texans | 40-1 |
| Eagles | 80-1 |
We should know better than to doubt the Patriots, who still have just one loss in their last 16 games. Read that again. Unfortunately for them, that loss came to Baltimore, which rightfully leapfrogged Bill Belichick and Co. amid a historic run.
Still, the Pats have a one-game lead over the Ravens for home-field advantage in the playoffs, which oddsmakers suggest could be the deciding factor on who makes (and wins) the Super Bowl. New England's defense still looks historically strong, and Belichick will have a plan for Jackson in a rematch. Don't ignore decent odds here.
San Francisco 49ers (7-1)Is the market somehow still slow to react to San Francisco? The Niners only moved from 8-1 to 7-1 after Sunday night's dominant win over a public-friendly Packers team? San Francisco looks like the best team in the NFC and has just one loss on the year, which came in overtime against fellow contender Seattle.
We'll learn a lot about the Niners over the next two weeks in Baltimore and New Orleans. It may seem counter-intuitive, but buy before those two games - if they win one or both of them, you'll regret passing on 7-1 odds.
Minnesota Vikings (14-1)Don't look now, but the Vikings are tied for the NFC North lead after Green Bay's loss. Minnesota also had a week off to prepare for next Monday's showdown against an overvalued Seahawks team.
The Vikings' talented roster has hinted at it being a Super Bowl contender all year. Inspired coaching has elevated this team to six wins in its last seven games and an outside shot at a first-round bye. A loss this week could bounce these odds back to 16-1, but an impressive win could threaten 10-1 or shorter.
C Jackson Cowart is a betting writer for theScore. He's an award-winning journalist with stops at The Charlotte Observer, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Times Herald-Record, and BetChicago. He's also a proud graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, and his love of sweet tea is rivaled only by that of a juicy prop bet. Find him on Twitter @CJacksonCowart.
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