Super Bowl 2022: Initial Vegas Odds Following Week 18
The Green Bay Packers enter the NFL postseason in the same position they were in a year ago.
Green Bay holds the top seed and home-field advantage in the NFC. They own the lone first-round bye in their conference thanks to the expanded playoff format.
Aaron Rodgers and Co. also come into the playoffs as the odds-on favorite to win the Super Bowl.
Before the Packers can focus on the "Big Game", they need to win two games and potentially avenge the loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from last year's NFC Championship Game.
Tom Brady and the Bucs carry the second-best odds of any NFC team to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills sit between the Packers and Bucs.
That is significant because neither the Chiefs nor Bills have home-field advantage in the AFC. The Tennessee Titans won that honor, but the odds makers believe they have less of a chance to win the title than their two biggest conference rivals.
Super Bowl Odds
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.
Green Bay (+380; bet $100 to win $380)
Kansas City (+450)
Buffalo (+750)
Tampa Bay (+800)
Tennessee (+850)
Los Angeles Rams (+1000)
Dallas (+1200)
Cincinnati (+1800)
New England (+2000)
Arizona (+2500)
San Francisco (+2500)
Los Angeles Chargers (+3500)
Philadelphia (+6000)
Las Vegas (+8000)
Pittsburgh (+8000)
Green Bay comes into the postseason with the likely Most Valuable Player and the most ideal situation to advance to the Super Bowl.
All of those beneficial factors did not help the Packers last season, as they fell to Brady and Co. in the NFC Championship Game.
The Packers finished with five wins in their final six regular-season games. The lone loss was suffered against the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Jordan Love took over for Rodgers in the second half.
Green Bay defeated four teams that are already qualified for the postseason. That total moves to five if the Pittsburgh Steelers make it into the AFC field.
Rodgers and Co. did not face off with Brady, and that could be the NFC Championship Game matchup once again.
Brady and the Bucs landed on the opposite side of the NFC bracket as the Packers after the San Francisco 49ers beat the Los Angeles Rams.
Tampa Bay will play its first two playoff games at home, where it was 7-1. The lone loss from that bunch came against the New Orleans Saints when Chris Godwin, Mike Evans and Leonard Fournette were all injured.
Brady still has Evans and Rob Gronkowski at his disposal and he had a few weeks to work some young wide receivers into the system. That should provide some comfort in a Buccaneers futures bet.
Arizona, Dallas and the Rams all have the potential to make deep runs, but it is hard to bet against Rodgers or Brady at this juncture of the season.
A Super Bowl futures bet on any other NFC team is dependent on if you believe any of those teams can beat both the Bucs and Packers.
The AFC picture is dependent on Derrick Henry's status for the divisional round. Tennessee has a week of practice to get Henry back to a solid level of fitness on his way back from a fractured foot.
The prospect of Henry wreaking havoc on opposing defenses makes the Titans an intriguing futures bet as the fifth favorite on the board.
Kansas City is the most trustworthy AFC option since Patrick Mahomes has been to the Super Bowl on two occasions.
The Chiefs have the most postseason experience and no one would blame you if you placed a wager on them.
Buffalo is an intriguing prospect, but as the No. 3 seed, it might have to go through both the Chiefs and Titans just to reach the Super Bowl.
It is worth noting that five of the last six Super Bowl participants were either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed. The lone exception was the Buccaneers with Brady last season.
That could play a role in deciding which teams you want to back before the postseason gets underway on Saturday.
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