Season Opens with Seahawks, Broncos Atop Conference Odds

The Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers will kick off the regular season of NFL online betting at the sportsbooks at CenturyLink Field on September 4, and those two NFC clubs are high on the list of conference favorites heading into the start of the NFL campaign.

Seattle is set as the 17/4 favorite and Green Bay is third at 6/1 on the NFL betting odds to win the NFC at the sportsbooks this season, with their Thursday Night Football kickoff in Seattle on September 4 set for 8:30pm ET. And wedged between those two teams on the NFC futures right now are the San Francisco 49ers at 19/4 odds. The Niners will begin their 2014 season on the road on Sunday, September 7 with a game in Arlington against the Cowboys.

Seattle, San Francisco, and Green Bay all advanced to the playoffs out of the NFC last season, as did the New Orleans Saints, Philadelphia Eagles, and Carolina Panthers. Of those three teams it’s the Saints that sport the best odds to win the NFC heading into the season at 7/1, with the Eagles at 10/1, and the Panthers farther down those NFL betting lines at 25/1. New Orleans begins its 2014 campaign with a Sunday afternoon game in Atlanta, while Philadelphia plays host to the visiting Jaguars, and Carolina pays a visit to the Buccaneers.

The other current odds to win the NFC at the sportsbooks are the Chicago Bears at 15/2, the Detroit Lions at 18/1, the Arizona Cardinals at 22/1, the Atlanta Falcons at 22/1, the New York Giants at 25/1, the Washington Redskins at 25/1, the Dallas Cowboys at 28/1, the St. Louis Rams at 28/1, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 33/1, and the Minnesota Vikings back at 40/1.

In the AFC Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos look like the NFL betting picks to win the conference at the sportsbooks, as they hold down a 9/4 favorite line to claim the AFC title again heading into their season opener at home against the Colts on Sunday Night Football.

The Colts are third on those conference betting lines at 15/2, while the New England Patriots are second at 3/1 and always an AFC contender when the NFL betting tips for a season make the rounds. Each of those three made the AFC playoffs last season, as did the Cincinnati Bengals, San Diego Chargers, and Kansas City Chiefs – who have 16/1, 16/1, and 20/1 odds.

The best odds out of the non-playoff teams from a year ago to win the AFC this time around are owned by the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens, who are pegged at 12/1 and 16/1 on those NFL online betting lines at the online sportsbooks. The Steelers and Ravens will both start the season in their own stadiums, with Pittsburgh playing host to Cleveland and Baltimore getting a visit from Cincinnati in two Sunday afternoon matchups.

Rounding out the odds to win the AFC heading into the season are the Houston Texans at 28/1, the Miami Dolphins at 28/1, the New York Jets at 28/1, the Cleveland Browns at 33/1, the Buffalo Bills at 40/1, the Tennessee Titans at 40/1, the Oakland Raiders at 50/1, and then the Jacksonville Jaguars – the longest of the longshots on the list at 100/1 to claim the AFC.