17-0 Packers? Bet On It

The Green Bay Packers are about 14 weeks from kicking off the 2024 NFL season. Here are some interesting betting numbers, including a 17-0 bet.

Bill Huber | May 31, 2024

Packers coach Matt LaFleur / Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

GREEN BAY, Wis. – At Fanatics Sportsbook, bettors can place a wager on a team finishing the 2024 NFL season with a perfect 17-0 record. Only two teams have received multiple bets. One is the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. The other? The Green Bay Packers.

The Packers, who are favored in 12 of 17 games, are +18000 to go undefeated. A $10 bet would result in a profit of $1,800.

With the start of the season less than 100 days away, here are some other betting highlights provided courtesy of Fanatics:

- The top six teams in the Super Bowl odds also are the top six teams in terms of tickets and handle. The 49ers are the Super Bowl favorites at +550 but the public is all over the Chiefs in their quest for a three-peat. The Chiefs, who are +650 to win another Lombardi Trophy, lead the way with 16.6 percent of the tickets and 27.1 percent of the handle.

The Packers, who at +2000 have the 10th-shortest odds, are seventh in tickets (4.3 percent) and 10th in handle (3.3 percent).

The Steelers, who are +5000 after acquiring quarterback Russell Wilson, are a popular long shot with 4.3 percent of the tickets.

- In the NFC North, where the Bears are the trendy pick after drafting quarterback Caleb Williams:

Odds to win the division: Lions, +135; Packers, +205; Bears, +360; Vikings, +750.

Tickets to win the division: Bears, 43.6 percent; Lions, 29.6 percent; Packers, 22.3 percent; Vikings, 4.5 percent.

Handle to win the division: Bears, 49.2 percent; Lions, 26.8 percent; Packers, 21.5 percent; Vikings 2.5 percent.

The NFC North odds are much tighter at DraftKings Sportsbook. The Lions are the favorite at +150, followed by the Packers at +210, the Bears at +265 and the Vikings a distant fourth at +1000.

The potential power of the Bears is evident in the No. 1 seed odds at DraftKings. The 49ers are the favorite at +300, followed by the Eagles at +550, the Lions at +600, the Cowboys at +700, the Falcons at +750, the Packers at +900, the Bears at +1200, the Rams at +1500 and no other team shorter than +2800.

The experience gained last season by quarterback Jordan Love and his young receiver corps potentially will make the Packers a stronger team than last season, when they went 9-8 and almost reached the NFC Championship Game.

“There’s no room to get complacent,” Love said at the start of OTAs. “You’ve got to be able to go out there and do it again. Obviously, there’s a lot of goals we didn’t reach last year and things that we’re striving to do this year, so there’s a lot of goals and expectations and things that we’re focusing on this year. There’s no room to get complacent.”

However, the Bears have arguably a top-10 roster that includes a superb group of skill-position players for Williams, so Green Bay can’t “take anything for granted,” coach Matt LaFleur said at OTAs this week.

“It really doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past,” he said. “It’s about what we’re building toward and trying to accomplish in the future. I think we’ve got a great start to it but, ultimately, we’ve got to keep working. That’s the only way you accomplish anything in life is you work and grind and try to get that a little bit better each and every day.”

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.

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Great quarterbacks are great when it matters most. That will be the critical next step for the future $200 Million Man, #Packers QB Jordan Love. ⬇️https://t.co/IDPWjvjt1f
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) May 29, 2024

Published May 31, 2024|Modified May 31, 2024

BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packer Central, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.