The Denver Broncos face the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, February 2, in Super Bowl XLVIII. Denver comes into the game as a 2 or 2.5 point favorite.

The Denver Broncos face the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, February 2, in Super Bowl XLVIII. Denver comes into the game as a 2 or 2.5 point favorite.

The graph below shows the futures odds for each team to win Super Bowl XLVIII at various points in the preseason and prior to each week during the season.

Super Bowl XLVIII futures odds

Lines courtesy of Intertops.com

2013 Summary

The 2013 season saw four different teams, (Denver, New England, San Francisco, and Seattle) considered to be the favorite to win the Super Bowl at one point during the season (including the preseason).

Four days after Super Bowl XLVII New England opened as the favorites to win Super Bowl XLVIII at +650. Seattle's (+1200) and Denver's (+800) odds were the highest they'd be all season. On May 1st San Francisco was the favorite at +650. By that time Denver had been moved down to +700 and Seattle had been bet all the way down to +800. Before the season kicked off, though, Denver had taken on the role of the favorite at +600 while Seattle remained +800.

A few notes…

• After Seattle's 29-3 victory over San Francisco in week 2 the Seahawks took over as the favorite in the NFC. Denver and Seattle would remain the favorites to win their respective conferences throughout the rest of the season.
• Denver remained the lone favorite to win the Super Bowl up until their week 12 loss at New England.
• Denver and Seattle were co-favorites prior to week 13 and headed into the playoffs.
• Seattle was a slight favorite late in the regular season and then prior to the divisional and conference odds. This and the early Super Bowl line (see below) explain why the books opened Seattle as a small favorite in the Super Bowl. Early money poured in on Denver, though, and now we sit at Denver -2 or -2.5.

Early Super Bowl XLVIII Line

Lines courtesy of Sportsbook.ag

This graph shows the early Super Bowl line throughout the year. The left axis reflects the line in terms of the NFC while the right axis reflects the total. The graph demonstrates how the total came down when the NFC was the favorite and then increased when the AFC was the favorite.

The San Francisco 49ers face the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, February 3, in Super Bowl XLVII. San Francisco comes into the game as the number 2 seed in the NFC and are favored by 3.5 points over the 4th seeded Ravens out of the AFC.

The graph below shows the futures odds for each team to win Super XLVII prior to each week during the season.

Super Bowl XLVII futures odds

2012 Summary

The 2012 season saw five different teams, (Green Bay, New England, San Francisco, Houston and Denver) considered to be the favorite to win the Super Bowl at one point during the season. Compare this with 2011 when only two different teams (the Patirots and Packers) were the favorite at some point during the season.

Two days after Super Bowl XLVI Green Bay opened as the favorites to win Super Bowl XLVII at +600. Before the season kicked off, though, New England and Green Bay were co-favorites at +600. Green Bay lost in week 1 and were never seen as the favorites for the rest of the season. New England was the favorite prior to their week 2 loss to Arizona which put 2-0 San Franciso as the favorite at +550. After the 49ers loss in week 3 Houston emerged as the favorite and were as low as +400 prior to week 6. The Texans would remain favorites or co-favorites (with New England) up until prior to week 14 and their blowout loss to New England. The Patriots were the favorites once again and were +350 (the lowest odds of any team during the regular season) prior to their week 15 loss to the 49ers. San Franciso and New England were co-favorites at +450 prior to week 16. Riding a 10-game winning streak into week 17 the Denver Broncos took over as the favorite and remained there until their loss to Baltimore in the conference championships.

Two days after Super Bowl XLVI Green Bay opened as the favorites to win Super Bowl XLVII at +600. Before the season kicked off, though, New England and Green Bay were co-favorites at +600. Green Bay lost in week 1 and were never seen as the favorites for the rest of the season. New England was the favorite prior to their week 2 loss to Arizona which put 2-0 San Franciso as the favorite at +550. After the 49ers loss in week 3 Houston emerged as the favorite and were as low as +400 prior to week 6. The Texans would remain favorites or co-favorites (with New England) up until prior to week 14 and their blowout loss to New England. The Patriots were the favorites once again and were +350 (the lowest odds of any team during the regular season) prior to their week 15 loss to the 49ers. San Franciso and New England were co-favorites at +450 prior to week 16. Riding a 10-game winning streak into week 17 the Denver Broncos took over as the favorite and remained there until their loss to Baltimore in the conference championships.

San Francisco's Super Bowl odds remained steady throughout the season. Other than the initial opening of +1600, their odds were never higher than +700 (following their week 10 tie with the Rams) or lower than +450 (after their week 15 victory at the Patriots). Also, they were the favorites or co-favorites (with Atlanta) to win the NFC from prior to week 2 through the championship game.

Baltimore, meanwhile, had an up and down season and were never considered a favorite to get to the big game. They were +1800 a day before the season started and after a 5-1 start were at their lowest odds of the season at +800. Following a 43-13 week 7 loss at Houston they went up to +1400 and hovered in the +1000 to +1800 range despite a four game winning streak. After a 3-game losing skid their odds rose to +3000 prior to week 16. They entered the playoffs at +2000 and were +800 prior to the conference championships. At no point during the season were they considered one of the top four favorites to win the Super Bowl.

Lines courtesy of Intertops.com

The New England Patriots face the New York Giants on Sunday, February 5, in Super Bowl XLVI. New England comes into the game as the number 1 seed in the AFC and are favored by 3 points over the 4th seeded Giants out of the NFC.

The graph below shows the futures odds for each team to win Super XLVI prior to each week during the season.

Super Bowl XLVI futures odds

2011 Summary

The 2011 season saw only two different teams, the Patriots and Packers, considered to be the favorite to win the Super Bowl at one point during the season. Compare this with 2010 when nine different teams were the favorite at some point during the season.

Two days after Green Bay won Super Bowl XLV they opened as co-favorites with New England to win Super Bowl XLVI at +700. Before the season kicked off, though, New England was set as the favorite at +500 while Green Bay was +650. The Patriots remained the favorite prior to weeks 2 and 3 but after the Patriots week 3 loss to Buffalo, Green Bay and New England were again co-favorites at +400. Green Bay emerged as the favorite prior to week 5 and remained the favorite up until their upset loss to the Giants in the divisional round of the playoffs.

New England's Super Bowl odds remained steady throughout the season. Other than the initial opening of +700, their highest odds were +650 following their week 9 loss to the Giants. Despite not losing since that game their odds never dipped below +400 until the divisional round of the playoffs. After the Packers lost New England was reinstated as the favorite heading into the conference championship at +115.

The Giants, meanwhile, had an up and down season and were never considered a favorite to get to the big game. They were +2200 a day before the season started but lost to Washington in week 1 and were moved to +4000. They won six of their next eight that concluded with the win on the road at the Patriots in week 9, and their odds were +2000 – their lowest odds of the regular season. After losing by 25 points on Monday night in New Orleans in week 12, their Super Bowl odds were at its highest at +6600. They won three of their last four to get into the playoffs where they were +2200 before their wild card win against the Falcons.

Lines courtesy of Intertops.com