Topic: 🏈🏈 The Essential NFL Thread 🏈🏈 - new poll every week - page 45. (Read 8862 times)

I just put in my vote for Green Bay.
Both are good teams, but in the preseason GB just seems more put together.
Can't really explain it, but in my mind they just seem a very small bit better.

Let's see what happens Thursday.

-Dave

I know the NFL isn't extraordinarily popular on the forum so I thought I'd try to make a thread to kind of collect the thoughts of the few fans that are here, in my attempt to create Wall Order-esque environment. Which means anything goes but the primary focus is of course on things pertaining to the American National Football League.

Last season I ran a Super Bowl Poll in which I correctly picked all 7 playoffs games, including the Super Bowl. I'm going to be picking one game a week and will run a poll for that particular game as well, but I have to add the caveat that I'm better at picking winners much later in the season. Early on, anything could happen, and its hard to gauge the strength of teams at the beginning of the season.

The season opener, set for Sept. 5th, 8:20 EST, and will feature the league's oldest rivalry, the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears. Sportsbet.io currently has the line at -3.5 Bears, with the payout slightly in their favor (1.98x for Bears vs. 1.81 for Packers).

I suspect more money has been going to the Packers because they have a slight advantage traditionally in the matchup between the 2, but the Bears had a pretty stellar record last year (12-4) compared to the Packers (6-9-1). Several sportsbook have the line at exactly -3 Bears, which also explains the payout differential on Sportsbet.

For this game, its a tough call, but I'm going to with the Bears at -3. Its a home game for them, first game of the year, big rivalry, the crowd will be pissed if they lose. Rogers is one of the best QBs in the league but I think this will be the year that Trubisky really comes into his own -- he's only been around for 2 seasons. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the game outcome falls exactly on the line, with the Bears winning by 3, so taking that extra half point is kind of ballsy move.

Also, just for fun, here's Sportsbet's current Super Bowl winner odds, so we can reference how they shift over the course of the season.



I never bet on Super Bowl odds this early in the season, but I will personally be rooting for the Rams, just as a public disclosure of interests...