The 2021 NFL regular season is just around the corner and optimism abounds amidst all of the league’s 32 teams. Good teams expect to be better. Bad teams are anticipating improvement. No team is assuming the worst but some teams will soon discover that assessment to be wrong.
BetUS is offering bettors the opportunity to speculate upon both the best and the worst of the NFL during the upcoming season. The online sportsbook is providing betting lines on which NFL team will post the best regular-season record during the 2021 campaign?
At the same time, BetUS is asking bettors to assess the team that will be the worst of the worst in 2021 and posts the NFL’s poorest record?
For the first time ever, NFL teams will contest a 17-game regular season. That’s led to some other props being put forward by BetUS. The sports betting site is asking whether either of last season’s Super Bowl participants – the champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, or the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs – can post a perfect 17-0 campaign?
To take this prop even further, there’s another wager put forth for NFL bettors on whether either of the Chiefs or the Buccaneers can go 17-0 during the regular season and carry on to win the Super Bowl?
Last season, it was the Chiefs who went 14-2 to claim the NFL’s best regular-season record. Right behind them at 13-3 were the Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills. The eventual Super Bowl champions Bucs were only an 11-5 regular-season squad.
Kansas City is favored to repeat this title in 2021 at odds of +300. However, the Chiefs could be hard-pressed to win as many games this season. In the AFC West, both the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers figure to be improved clubs. You never know what you’re going to get from the Las Vegas Raiders but no matter their place in the standings, the Raiders always seem to give the Chiefs a good game.
The Baltimore Ravens were an NFL-best 14-2 in 2019 and can be had for a betting line of +1200. However, the Ravens will find themselves dealing with two other returning playoff teams in the AFC North in the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers, so the chances of Baltimore reigning over the NFL regular season are remote.
The team that looks to be the best bet in this prop is the Bills. Buffalo was one win behind KC last season. The Bills were also a win away from going to last year’s Super Bowl. Add to that the fact that the AFC East isn’t exactly a stellar division. Buffalo was the only playoff team from this group in 2020. The Miami Dolphins are getting better but still not anywhere near a finished product. The New England Patriots are regressing and the New York Jets are the Jets.
If a sleeper is what you seek, then look no further than the San Francisco 49ers at +1200. Two seasons ago, the Niners represented the NFC in the Super Bowl. Last season, San Fran suffered a crippling run of injuries. The 49ers endured the second-most injuries during an NFL season in the past 20 years, losing 166.6 games to ailments or illness. And they still went 6-10. A healthy San Francisco team figures to be back in the Super Bowl hunt.
There is no shortage of candidates for the NFL’s worst team in 2021. The Jacksonville Jaguars will enter the season on a 15-game losing streak, with a new coach (Urban Meyer) and with rookie Trevor Lawrence at quarterback. The New York Jets were 2-14 and will also be starting over with a new coach (Robert Saleh) and a rookie QB (Zach Wilson).
In the NFC, the Detroit Lions went 5-11 and surrendered an NFL-high 519 points. They’ve also got a new QB (Jared Goff) and coach (Dan Campbell).
Let’s go back to the AFC, though, to tab the winner as far as locating the biggest loser among the losers. The Houston Texans changed coaches last year amidst a 4-12 campaign. Over the past two years, they’ve systematically been eliminating their best players, moving out All-Pro defensive stars Jadeveon Clowney and J.J. Watt and wideout DeAndre Hopkins. Now it’s QB Deshaun Watson who’s on the trading block. This is a team that seems to be putting a blueprint in place to continue to regress.
The NFL employed a 14-game regular season from 1961-77. In that span, just one team, the 1972 Dolphins, went 14-0. The NFL employed a 16-game regular season from 1978-2020. In that span, just one team, the 2007 Patriots, went 16-0. Only the Dolphins were able to go all the way without a loss to a Super Bowl title.
Tampa Bay is given a +3000 betting line to go 17-0 during the 2021 NFL regular season. The Bucs are at +4500 odds to go 17-0 and carry on and win the Super Bowl.
Kansas City is given a +4000 betting line to go 17-0 during the 2021 NFL regular season. The Chiefs are at +6000 odds to go 17-0 and carry on and win the Super Bowl.
This is fool’s gold. Neither of these outcomes will come to fruition.
See below the top sportsbooks, like Bovada, where you can wager online and choose the best one for you: