Futures bettors should beware of teams that peak too early.
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The 49ers and Ravens are the flavor of the week as both are coming off of huge wins. If you believe in one of those teams to be raising the Lombardi Trophy three months from now, that’s fine and dandy. But the best time to bet on them isn’t now. It’ll be following a regular season loss this month or next.
San Francisco is now the lone undefeated team left in the NFL following the Patriots’ 37-20 loss to the Ravens in Baltimore Sunday night. But a loss in the next few weeks is likely coming for Jimmy Garoppolo and crew.
Here are what the next five weeks look like for San Francisco: home vs. Seattle (7-2), home vs. Arizona (3-5-1), home vs. Green Bay (7-2), at Baltimore (6-2), at New Orleans (7-1).
That’s about as rugged as it gets.
The Ravens, meanwhile, have easier sledding but there are some tough dates remaining: home vs. Houston (6-3), at LA Rams (5-3), home vs. 49ers (8-0), at Buffalo (6-2), home vs. Pittsburgh (4-4).
Bottom line is that neither the 49ers or Ravens are locks to be playing home football games in the postseason given their upcoming schedules, and with multiple teams hot on their trails in the standings. The Colts (5-3), Texans (6-3) or Chiefs (6-3) could wiggle their way into a first round bye and a home date in the divisional round. Ditto for the Saints (7-1), Seahawks (7-2), Packers (7-2) or Vikings (6-3) in the NFC.
So for this week, at least, avoid futures bets on San Fran and Baltimore. As for teams that offer Super Bowl value this week, take a look at the Patriots (went from +225 last week to +270 this week), and contenders that were idle in Week 9 like New Orleans (+500) and the Rams (+2500).
