Super Bowl 2016: Initial Vegas Odds Following Week 17

And then there were 12.

The 12 squads that will fight for the right to become the 50th Super Bowl champion in NFL history have been determined. The only question that remains: Which teams are good plays?

That's going to be answered now, as well as after the Sunday night game that decides the NFC North. There's a chance that game could alter the way the books view the Super Bowl favorite.

Here are the latest odds from Vegas for Super Bowl 50:

Team	Odds
Arizona Cardinals	3/1
New England Patriots	16/5
Carolina Panthers	6/1
Seattle Seahawks	8/1
Denver Broncos	10/1
Pittsburgh Steelers	14/1
Green Bay Packers	18/1
Kansas City Chiefs	20/1
Cincinnati Bengals	25/1
Minnesota Vikings	40/1
Washington Redskins	60/1
Houston Texans	70/1

Long-Shot Plays to Consider for Super Bowl 50

Kansas City Chiefs

The numbers 20-1 are the only reasons why it wouldn't hurt to put $10 or $20 on Kansas City to go all the way.

The Chiefs head into the playoffs on a 10-game winning streak after defeating the Oakland Raiders on Sunday. They've held opponents to under 20 points eight times during this winning streak and have scored 30 or more points five times.

Kansas City's body of work during this winning streak, admittedly, has not been impressive. The Chiefs' notable wins were against a Denver Broncos team that benched Peyton Manning, a struggling Detroit Lions team at the time and the Buffalo Bills.

Other than that, the Chiefs have just won games they're supposed to win. That's a good thing, though. ESPN's Bill Barnwell argues that the Chiefs have more than enough in the tank to make a Super Bowl run in the questionable AFC:

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The Chiefs, meanwhile, feature a dominant defense and an offense that is predicated upon avoiding giveaways. Force Alex Smith to commit turnovers and you're basically going to shut down the Kansas City offense. The difference in scale between the two is that Smith is better at avoiding turnovers than the Steelers are at creating them, and the Kansas City defense might be a step above the Pittsburgh offense.

If that doesn't sit well, you're underestimating just how well the Chiefs are playing on defense. Since the start of Week 5, Bob Sutton's unit has allowed a total of just 145 points, an average of 13.2 points over 11 games. Nobody is within three points of them; the second-place Bengals are allowing 16.6 points per game. The next-closest team to have suited up for 11 games over that span is Houston, which has allowed 199 points.

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Imagine if Kansas City never lost Jamaal Charles and went on this run. A healthy Charles would mean the Chiefs are more dangerous than they are now. If Alex Smith plays well, that's a bonus, but Super Bowl runs come down to defense. And as if the Chiefs needed anymore firepower defensively, they could be getting star pass-rusher Justin Houston back in time for the playoffs.

The Chiefs have that and could be a problem for any team in the AFC.

Seattle Seahawks

Just when it was safe to start throwing dirt on the two-time defending NFC champions, the Seattle Seahawks are not done by a long shot.

For clarification: The Arizona Cardinals should still be the favorite from the NFC to reach the Super Bowl. They were due a bad game and are getting a first-round bye either way.

But the Seahawks showed they're very much alive and will not be an easy out in the NFC.

One slip-up against the St. Louis Rams was not the end-all, be-all for the Seahawks. The only time the Rams play well is within their own division, and the result two weeks ago was to be expected. Seattle responds the only way it can, with a dominant performance against the NFC West champion Cardinals.

The NFC playoffs like to be determined on momentum, and the Seahawks have that. They enter the postseason winning eight of their last 10 with only two of those games being decided by one possession.

Football Night in America analyst Tony Dungy agrees with the assumption that the Cardinals might be the best team in football right now, but a red-hot Seattle team is stealing the headlines:

Russell Wilson has been playing at an MVP-type level since Oct. 22, throwing 27 touchdowns to only five interceptions. He also became the first Seahawk quarterback in franchise history to throw for 4,000 yards in a season.

Oh, and there's still that defense that's pretty good, as SB Nation's Brian Floyd reminds us:

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For the fourth-straight year, the Seahawks allowed the fewest points in the NFL. It took a step back, but that defense is still incredible

— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) January 4, 2016"

So much for him being a traditional running quarterback who could somewhat throw. Thanks to Wilson, the Seahawks are in prime position to make a deep run, so that 8-1 line wouldn't be bad to throw $20 on.