It remains a tight two-way race atop the odds to win next season’s NFC conference championship, with the San Francisco 49ers edging out the New Orleans Saints as the +475 betting favourites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
The 49ers enjoyed a turnaround last season, ending a five-year playoff drought in impressive fashion. San Francisco returned to the playoff picture as the NFC’s top seed after compiling a 13-3 record, and continued their steady play in the postseason with dominating wins over Minnesota and Green Bay to claim their first Super Bowl berth in seven years.
The Niners have kept busy over the offseason, quietly locking up key players from last season’s breakthrough campaign including Arik Armstead, Ronald Blair, and Jimmie Ward. The team, though, will have some decisions to make after parting ways with receiver Emmanuel Sanders, who signed with New Orleans, and defensive end DeForest Buckner, who was dealt to Indianapolis for the 13th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
However, with division-rivals like the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks both expected to take a step back in 2020, the 49ers look poised to pay out as +110 favourites at online betting sites to repeat as NFC West champions, and as a -105 wager to win OVER 10.5 games.
Fresh off winning a third straight NFC South crown, the Saints look toward the 2020 NFL season set as +550 second favourites to claim their first NFC conference title since 2009. New Orleans has recorded 13 wins in each of the past two seasons, and kept its Super Bowl window open by signing quarterback Drew Brees to a two-year contract.
But unlike the Niners, New Orleans is expected to face increased competition from divisional rivals that kept busy during the offseason. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made the biggest headline of the offseason by signing star quarterback Tom Brady to a two-year deal, and have been rewarded on the NFC conference futures where they now sit third as a +700 bet.
Further down the NFC conference championship odds, the Dallas Cowboys have benefited from the offseason re-signing of receiver Amari Cooper and sit as a +750 bet. The Green Bay Packers and Seahawks are joined by the Philadelphia Eagles at +900 on those NFL odds, followed by the Chicago Bears at +1200, and the Vikings at +1500.
By signing Cooper and slapping the franchise tag on quarterback Dak Prescott, Dallas is assured of returning with their offence intact in the season ahead. However, after failing to keep pace with the injury-plagued Eagles last season, the Cowboys remain knotted with Philadelphia as +120 co-favourites on the NFC East odds.
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