Marc Trestman’s Chicago Bears, who just missed out on the NFC North title last season, are back in the second tier of contenders on the Super Bowl XLIX odds.
However the Bears, guided by the former Montreal Alouettes boss, are sitting as big favourites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com for their season-opening game against the Buffalo Bills in Week 1.
The Bears ended up 8-8 last season, putting them just behind the 8-7-1 Green Bay Packers in the NFC North standings. Chicago remains behind rival Green Bay on the NFL futures, but with a high-powered offence led by quarterback Jay Cutler and running back Matt Forte they’re at 22/1 on the odds to win Super Bowl XLIX – and 7.5-point favourites at Soldier Field against the Bills this week.
While Buffalo had just two less wins than Chicago last season, posting a 6-10 mark overall, they have almost no expectations attached to them for the upcoming campaign and sit way back at 100/1 on the Super Bowl XLIX odds.
That has the Bills ahead of only the Oakland Raiders and the Jacksonville Jaguars on those futures heading into Week 1.
The Chicago vs. Buffalo matchup is one of a dozen that will take place on the opening Sunday afternoon of the NFL season, with the schedule also offering up at 1 p.m. ET:
New Orleans (-2.5) at Atlanta
Cincinnati at Baltimore (-1)
Washington at Houston (-2.5)
Tennessee at Kansas City (-3.5)
New England (-5) at Miami
Oakland at the Jets (-5.5)
Jacksonville at Philadelphia (-12)
Cleveland at Pittsburgh (-7)
Minnesota at St. Louis (-3.5)
Later on Sunday afternoon, it’s Carolina at Tampa Bay (-1) and San Francisco (-4.5) at Dallas, with the Denver Broncos playing host to the Indianapolis Colts as a 9-point favourite at Sports Authority Field on Sunday night in the week’s most anticipated battle.
There are three other primetime games on the NFL’s Week 1 slate, with the Giants at Detroit (-5.5) and San Diego at Arizona (-3) on Monday night.
The Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks kick off the season Thursday night at CenturyLink Field. The sportsbooks have the defending champions set at 6-point home favourites for that game. Of note, defending champions have only lost twice in the past 20 years in their first game of the season.