Packer Central

Sportsbooks View Packers as Long Shots To Win NFC North

It's been almost two decades since the Green Bay Packers finished in last place in the NFC North.

Bill Huber

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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers haven’t finished last in the NFC North since 2005. The Detroit Lions haven’t finished first in the NFC North since, well, ever.

Could that change this season?

The Lions are the unanimous betting favorites to win the North for the first time since the NFL moved to eight divisions of four teams in 2002. The Packers or the Bears have the longest odds to win the division, depending on the sportsbook.

At Superbook, the Packers have the longest odds to win the NFC North. The Lions are a solid favorite at +130, followed by the Minnesota Vikings at +250, the Chicago Bears at +400 and the Packers at +500.

By implied probability, that means the Packers have a 16.7 percent chance of winning the division.

“Some of these things will be right and some of these things will be dead wrong,” Ed Salmons, the vice president of risk management at the Superbook sportsbook in Las Vegas, said recently. “That’s the fun about sports is the unknown. You never know what’s going to happen. Who could’ve saw the Miami Heat losing Tyler Herro in the first playoff game and it made the team better for some reason?”

Superbook has the Packers favored in only five of 17 games.

Because sportsbooks had been working under the belief the Vikings would get rid of star running back Dalvin Cook, their odds didn’t budget when they released Cook a few days ago.

Here are some other odds from national sportsbooks.

SI Sportsbook: Packers Last

At SI Sportsbook: Lions: +130; Vikings: +300; Bears: +333; Packers: +375.

DraftKings: Packers Last

At DraftKings Sportsbook: Lions: +130; Vikings: + 250; Bears: +400; Packers: +500.

FanDuel: Packers Third

At FanDuel Sportsbook: Lions: +145; Vikings: +270; Packers: +350; Bears: +420.

BetMGM: Packers Third

At BetMGM: Lions: +140; Vikings: +300; Packers: +350; Bears: +375.

Bet365: Packers Tied for Last

At Bet 365: Lions: +130; Vikings: +300; Bears: +380; Packers: +380.

“It ain’t a rebuild. We coming to win now,” Packers cornerback and All-Pro kick returner Keisean Nixon said recently.

If you’re like Nixon and bullish on the Packers to be the league’s big surprise this season, DraftKings is offering the longest odds of the national sportsbooks. At +500, a winning bet of $100 would mean the bettor would win $500.

At DraftKings, a $5 bet gets $200 in bonus bets instantly. If you’re in a state where sports betting is legal, take advantage of that deal by clicking here.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, 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.

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