Philadelphia may be the City of Brotherly Love but the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles will be fuming as they watch this season’s showpiece from the armchairs in their luxurious mansions at the end of another bone-crunching season.
What? Wait? The Eagles are being discounted for back-to-back titles?
Yep, and we’re discounting the Kansas City Chiefs as well, even after sweeping all before them to appear in five of the last six showpieces, winning three of them.
They were bidding to complete an unprecedented three straight Super Bowl triumphs at the start of the year only to be annihilated by Philly in a 40-22 shellacking in New Orleans.
Well KC may have won 15 regular season games last time around but most of those victories were close affairs in which they prevailed by just a touchdown and they have a tough start to the campaign with a trip to Brazil for a curtain-raiser with the Los Angeles Chargers before tough assignments against the Eagles, Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions in their first three games at their Arrowhead Stadium stronghold.
A revamped offensive line, a suspension for wide reciever Rashee Rice after his involvement in a car crash and Taylor Swift’s fiance Travis Kelce entering the twilight of his stellar career also suggest the Chiefs will no longer be a dominant force.
The Green Bay Packers will be contenders in the NFC after adding future hall of fame linebacker Micah Parsons to their defense in a blockbuster trade with the Dallas Cowboys but they may be a year away from winning it all while the Lions will be dangerous as well.
They looked likely winners after a strong regular season last term only to be undone by injuries in the postseason and have lost eight members of their staff since last year and four road trips in their first six games is a problem.
The case for the Eagles defense
There’s a strong case for the Eagles to repeat but they have lost key players in their D while there are always injury concerns circling superstar running back Saquon Barkley, leaving the San Francisco 49ers with every chance of striking gold.
They reached the Super Bowl two seasons ago but were undone last year by a glut of injuries – including to elite running back Christian McCaffrey- and crucially they have the easiest schedule in 2025.
Super Bowl 60 will be played at their Bay Area home and the 2021 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and 2022 Los Angeles Rams both lifted the Vince Lombardi Trophy in front of their own fans.
The Ravens, however, can gain home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs-offs with quarterback Lamar Jackson orchestrating an explosive passing attack which has added future Hall of Fame star DeAndre Hopkins to its ranks with rusher Derrick Henry unstoppable on the ground and the defense stronger than ever.
Baltimore are 13/2 with William Hill to win the Super Bowl for the first time since 2013 while the 49ers can also be backed each-way at 16/1 with the same firm.
NFL awards odds
Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson is the worthy favourite to be the regular season MVP for a third time at 11/2 with BetMGM while New York Giants linebacker Abdul Carter has the potential to register a record number of sacks for a first-year player and is 5/2 with BetVictor to be the defensive rookie of the year.
Atlanta Braves running back Bijan Robinson can rumble in the most rushing touchdowns at 10/1 with William Hill, Cincinnati Bengals wideout JaMarr Chase is 6/1 with StarSports to haul in the most receiving touchdowns and Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield is each-way gold at 19/2 with BoyleSports to throw the most passing touchdowns.
NFL opener odds
It looks like being a long season for the Dallas Cowboys after trading Parsons, the heartbeat of their defense, to Green Bay and their trip to the Philadelphia for the opening game of the NFL campaign could be a massive mismatch.
The Eagles are 20/23 with bet365 to lead HT/FT as they celebrate their Super Bowl success in front of their home fans and wideout AJ Brown is 9/1 with Ladbrokes and Coral to score the first touchdown and 6/4 with Paddy Power and Sky Bet to haul in six points at any time.
An Eagles Thursday night win by over 10.5 points is 11/5 with Sky Bet and Paddy Power.