The NFL is more wide open than it’s been in years.
There are no dominant teams this season, no unbeatens through six weeks.
Only the Buccaneers and Colts have five wins. The Bills and Eagles have gone from 4-0 to losing two straight. The Chiefs just evened their record at the expense of the Lions. The Steelers are quietly 4-1. The Packers have looked shaky since a 2-0 start.
The banged-up 49ers along with the Seahawks, Rams, Lions, Patriots, Jaguars,
Chargers and Broncos are 4-2. The Falcons, Vikings and Bears are 3-2. The Commanders, who reached the NFC title game last season, fell to 3-3.
So who is going to win the Super Bowl?
Who knows?
There are no clear favorites at this point. About 15 teams have a chance to hoist the Lombardi trophy. It’s rare to have that many teams in the mix at any point in an NFL season, including the playoffs when 14 make it.
The Eagles (+650), Ravens (+700), Bills (+750), Chiefs (+750) and Lions (+850) had the best odds to win the Super Bowl entering the season, per BetMGM Sportsbook.
Four of those teams remain in the current top five: Bills (+600), Chiefs (+650), Lions (+750), Packers (+800) and Eagles (+1000).
The injury-depleted Ravens have dropped into a tie for 12th following a 1-5 start.
The Colts (5-1) and Buccaneers (5-1) aren’t getting much respect from oddsmakers. Indianapolis is seventh on the list at +1700 behind the Rams (+1400). Tampa Bay is tied with the Chargers and Broncos for eighth at +1800.
Somehow, the Steelers (+3000) are below Baltimore (+2500) even though they have a 2 1/2-game advantage in the AFC North.
Three of the five teams with the current best odds lost last week. The Eagles were dominated by the Giants in a 34-17 loss on Thursday night. Josh Allen and the Bills couldn’t get the offense going in a 24-14 loss at Atlanta on Monday night. The Lions were handled by the Chiefs, 30-17, in a game that puts Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City back in the race after an inconsistent opening month.
“Nobody wants to lose, we certainly don’t want to lose but it puts a little extra sense of urgency on you, it puts a little bit of that bad taste,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said Tuesday.
“It sometimes gives you that extra kick to get things back to where they need to be. Maybe you didn’t quite see it. ... Look, the other thing is that’s a really good team, man.”
Detroit, which won 15 games last season but lost its first playoff game, is facing tough competition coming up. The Lions host the Buccaneers on Monday night to start a stretch where they’ll face five teams that made the playoffs last season over the next six games.
“You’ve got to be on point when you play really good teams. And that’s what I love about this stretch that’s coming is we’re about to hit a row of them, right?” Campbell said.
“A whole ton of them, and your margin for error is so small. I mean, that’s what I told the team today. That actually fires me up, because you do, you have to be on point. You don’t get the luxury of making a mistake here, make a mistake there against these types of teams we’re getting ready to play.”
There are several games featuring two winning teams this week. The Rams and Jaguars face off in London. The Eagles visit the Vikings. The Colts take on the Chargers. The Falcons play the 49ers.
Injuries have been a major factor for many teams across the league. Missing key players has impacted Baltimore significantly. Lamar Jackson hasn’t played two games and the Ravens lost both. They’ve also been without several key starters.
The 49ers managed to win their first three games without Brock Purdy while also losing George Kittle, Nick Bosa and half their starting offense. Mac Jones lost his first game of the season against Tampa Bay, and a season-ending injury suffered by All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner made it even worse.
“The reality is we lost another really good player. But, what are we going to do about it?” Niners coach Kyle Shanahan said. “I think we’ve got a lot of young guys doing some real good things on defense. But, what type of team are we going to become going forward? I think we have players here we can win with, but it makes it harder to make mistakes and things like that. ... We’ve got to put pressure on some veterans to play the best that they can. And these rookies who I believe are coming along need to put the pressure on themselves to clean up the mistakes.”
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