3 way-too-early Super Bowl LIV futures bets
It's never too early to start thinking about Super LIV.
Roughly 12 hours following the culmination of the New England Patriots-Los Angeles Rams game, we're already eyeing our three favorite picks for next season's Super Bowl winner.
The draft, free agency, scheduling, coaching hires, and trades can all still shake things up, but here are the three teams we like right now based on price and value.
Chicago Bears (+1650)
The SuperBook opened the Bears at 12-1 when it released its odds, but some offshore books have since moved the reigning NFC North champs back in the range of +1400 to +1650. The Bears are well ahead of schedule in their rebuild, as they found a good fit in head coach Matt Nagy and watched their offseason moves take shape to earn the divisional crown this past year. General manager Ryan Pace has Chicago in a good spot, without much of a true need to be filled through the draft. The Bears, as you recall, shipped draft assets to the Oakland Raiders for Khalil Mack, who is the cornerstone of the vaunted defense. On paper, Chicago is hardly sexy and will now go from the hunter to hunted, but it figures to bring back nearly its entire core from last season, including key players in the midst of their prime.
Indianapolis Colts (+1650)
Much like the Bears, the Colts sprung from the basement of their division and wound up clinching a berth in the playoffs. The franchise got a huge comeback year out of Andrew Luck, despite an underwhelming skill corps, and caught lightning in a bottle with a defense that wasn't pegged to be all that good in 2018. Indy finished with the eighth-best point differential in the NFL while being one of the most injured teams with more than 225 man games lost. The Colts should be able to make another deep run if they can stay healthy and receive even close to the production they did in 2018.
Pittsburgh Steelers (+2200)
The Steelers were big movers from their opening odds of 14-1. It's no surprise they're falling off the grid, as the combination of the locker room turmoil and hype surrounding the Cleveland Browns makes the AFC North picture a bit murkier. The market is going to hate the Steelers this spring and summer, perhaps ratcheting up the value even more once the respective fates of Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell come to fruition. Truth is, this is still a very solid team that could - yes, could - be in an even better spot without all the drama. We'd recommend the Steelers at anything better than 20-1 and it'd be wise to wait even longer before grabbing a ticket.
(Futures bets were taken from BetOnline and BetDSI. Always shop around for the best numbers.)
Alex Kolodziej is theScore's betting writer. He's a graduate of Eastern Illinois who has been involved in the sports betting industry for 11 years. He can quote every line from "Rounders" and appreciates franchises that regularly wear alternate jerseys. Find him on Twitter @AlexKoIodziej.