The Chargers had the best record in the AFC last season, but they didn't manage to win a single playoff game. Can San Diego bounce back with a better showing this season?
Vegas oddsmakers like the Chargers' chances of winning the AFC Championship under the leadership of new head coach Norv Turner.
Philip Rivers and company are pegged at just 3/1 odds to represent their conference in the 2008 Super Bowl. However, the Chargers are not the conference favorites, and they're not alone in second on the chart.
The top dogs are not even the defending-champion Indianapolis Colts, but rather the New England Patriots. Randy Moss' new team is currently listed as the 5/2 favorite to win the AFC Championship this season; that's an improvement from the 9/2 odds at which they opened on that futures line.
The Colts opened at 3/1 odds, and they remain at 3/1 odds right now. The Chargers had opened at 5/2 odds before falling back to 3/1.
Fourth on the AFC contenders list are the Baltimore Ravens, who opened at 7/1 odds to claim the conference championship and are now listed at just 5/1 odds.
The Cincinnati Bengals, on the other hand, opened at 13/2 odds but have fallen back to 8/1 on the list. The Chargers, Patriots, Colts, Ravens, and Bengals complete the first tier of AFC teams.
Longer odds to win the AFC title this season have been given to the Jacksonville Jaguars, Pittsburgh Steelers, Denver Broncos, and New York Jets.
The Jaguars and Steelers opened at 10/1 and 12/1 odds, respectively, on this futures line, but both now sit at 13/1 odds to claim the conference. The Broncos and Jets are both behind at 14/1.
Then come the AFC longshots - the group of seven teams not given much of a chance to win the conference's championship game next January.
The Buffalo Bills lead this group at 30/1 odds, followed by the Tennessee Titans (32/1), Kansas City Chiefs (35/1), and Miami Dolphins (35/1).
The three bottom-feeders on this odds list are then the Cleveland Browns (50/1), the Houston Texans (50/1), and the Oakland Raiders (75/1).
The Chicago Bears won the NFC Championship Game last season, and they're favored to turn that trick again this season. Rex Grossman's team opened at 2/1 odds to claim the NFC title for the second straight year, and even though their odds have subsequently fallen to 3/1 they're still at the top of the chart.
The New Orleans Saints, who opened at 4/1 to claim the NFC, are just behind them in second place at 7/2 odds.
The next team on the current NFC contenders list are the Seattle Seahawks, who have remained stable at 11/2 odds to win their conference championship this season.
A pair of NFC East teams, the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles, follow Seattle at 8/1 odds, while the Carolina Panthers (looking for a rebound season) are listed at 10/1.
The New York Giants squeaked into the NFC playoffs with an 8-8 record last season, but fell well short of the conference championship.
Vegas oddsmakers have them listed at 15/1 odds to make it all the way to the Super Bowl this season, and they're just ahead of the San Francisco 49ers (18/1) and St. Louis Rams (18/1) on the list.
The dark-horse 49ers opened back at just 25/1 odds, but are becoming a trendy selection.
The Green Bay Packers and Washington Redskins are next on the NFC contenders list at 20/1 odds, with the Minnesota Vikings at 22/1, and both the Atlanta Falcons and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 25/1.
The Arizona Cardinals currently sit with 28/1 odds to win the NFC Championship Game this season, which puts them ahead of just one other team in the conference - the Detroit Lions, who trail badly on the list at a longshot 45/1. |
