2009 Super Bowl odds you should (not) have bet

After the wild cards and the divisional playoffs, we are now down to only four NFL teams battling for the 2009 Super Bowl glory. It seems like the perfect time to look back at the odds posted on the probable 2009 Super Bowl winner before the regular season actually began and see which bets you should and should not have made.

We will begin with the easy part - the four bets on the winner of the 2009 Super Bowl that you should have made - the Steelers, Ravens, Eagles and the Cardinals. Fully aware that only one of these four football teams will actually be the winner of the Super Bowl this year, it's great to see what the odds were on all four before they began competing last fall and what they pay right now, according to the odds posted at the online sports betting website Bookmaker. Contrary on the popular belief, the Baltimore Ravens were actually the underdog of these four teams during preseason - Ravens were listed with odds 66/1 and today they would pay on +397 line at Bookmaker if they win the Super Bowl 2009. The Arizona Cardinals did a bit better, holding odds 50/1 to win the 2009 Super Bowl in preseason, while now are the ultimate underdog of the Bowl chase with odds +710. And finally, both the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles were 18/1 to win the Super Bowl this January, although today the Steelers are the favorite with odds +141 and the Eagles are trailing at +170.

Now let's look at some of the 2009 Super Bowl odds you should not have bet last year. Starting with the obvious two - the New York Giants and the New England Patriots. The current Super Bow champion at least made it to the playoffs, although the Eagles put the breaks on the Giants hope for a repeat, beating them 23-11 in the divisional playoffs. During preseason the New England Patriots were listed as the favorite team to win the 2009 Super Bowl, sitting on short odds 7/2, while the NY Giants were far from enjoying favorite status, but still paying out small at 18/1. Clearly millions all over the world lost money taking these two teams last year to win the Super Bowl. Here are a few other teams, which were favorite to win the 2009 Super Bowl before the start of the regular season, but should have not been bet - the Indianapolis Colts (odds 7/1), Dallas Cowboys (preseason odds 9/1 to win the 2009 Super Bowl) and San Diego Chargers (15/2 odds). All these NFL teams were paying on single-digit odds before the season begun and non of them even reached the division championship games. Meanwhile the current 4 contenders all paid 18 times your bet and more.

Published on 01/13/2009