Super Bowl 2015: Highlighting Latest Vegas Odds and Updated Predictions

With three of the four teams playing on Championship Game Weekend representing top-two seeds in their respective conferences, action on Super Bowl XLIX bets is looking to be pretty even across the board.

There's the assumed favorite, with the Seattle Seahawks now on a seven-game winning streak and one victory over the Green Bay Packers—whom they've already beaten at home this season—away from a return trip to the big stage. But from the Packers, to the AFC favorite New England Patriots, to even the underdog Indianapolis Colts, the Las Vegas lines are opening up for the big weekend.

If you scoff at the prospect of picking the Super Bowl champion among the two teams playing in the game, getting a head start this weekend is essential to get the most bang for your buck.

Here's a look at the latest Super Bowl odds, fit with a prediction for the big game in Glendale, Arizona, on Feb. 1. 

Team	Odds
Seattle Seahawks	5-4
New England Patriots	19-10
Green Bay Packers	11-2
Indianapolis Colts	13-2

Note: Odds courtesy of Odds Shark, last updated January 15.

Super Bowl Prediction: Seattle Seahawks vs. New England Patriots

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

Picking chalk when it comes to the NFL playoffs has been a recipe for disaster over the course of recent history.

As Judy Battista of The New York Times discovered back when top seeds Indianapolis and New Orleans met after the 2009 season, it has only happened eight times since 1975. That Super Bowl—won by the Saints—marked the first one since 1993, and it didn't happen again until last year's showdown between Denver and Seattle.

Thanks to the championship pedigree of the league leaders this postseason, however, we're set to see a rare repeat.

It was fair to question what the Seahawks were made of during the first half of the season, but they have since left no doubt that they're ready for a run at the repeat. They have won seven straight games, including a divisional-round win over Carolina, and won every fixture by double digits.

Seattle might have its hands full with Green Bay at home this weekend, but not enough to seriously threaten the end result. Aaron Rodgers is still hobbled, nursing an injured calf that kept him limited against the Cowboys. Cleveland Clinic Sports Health orthopedic surgeon Lutul Farrow explained how playing might be tough for Rodgers, per Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

"

There's still a healing process (going on). What I tell my patients, my athletes, is when you have these injuries and they hurt and you play on them, it's kind of like peeling a scab.

Every time you peel the scab it kind of resets some of the healing and takes longer to get better.

"

Behind the NFL's top-ranked passing defense and third-ranked run defense, the Seahawks will make moving the ball immensely difficult for Rodgers. Like Seattle's 36-16 drubbing of Green Bay in Week 1 of the regular season, the Seahawks defense will rise to the occasion.

Across the aisle, another team destined for a championship run awaits.

The Patriots haven't been nearly as convincing down the stretch of the regular season, but their Week 17 defeat to Buffalo came with most of their starters benched for the second half. They were given the supreme test of toppling a Ravens team that had beaten Tom Brady twice in the postseason, but they stepped up to the task and won 35-31.

Instead of another meeting with Peyton Manning and the Broncos in the AFC Championship Game, Brady and Co. will go up against the Colts after Andrew Luck led them to an upset in Denver. 

New England couldn't run the ball against Baltimore, but that was largely by design as the Patriots tried to gunsling their way back into it. Against the Colts' 18th-ranked run defense, more balance will be in order, and LeGarrette Blount will get involved.

Plus, the Patriots should only continue their recent dominance over Indianapolis, as ESPN Stats & Info uncovered:

That sets up another dream-like Super Bowl showdown between the Seahawks' hard-hitting defense and New England's offense. But unlike last year, Seattle doesn't have a decisive upper hand on both sides of the ball.

The Seahawks secondary took Manning's aerial attack away in last year's Super Bowl, but they won't be able to repeat history against New England. Brady has Rob Gronkowski in the middle and a physical running game to lean on when the Legion of Boom tightens up.

Russell Wilson will find some success offensively, but it will be few and far between against the Patriots' surging defense. Their physical front seven will keep rushing gains minimal for Wilson and Marshawn Lynch and will leave Brady working with a lead throughout.

No late collapse will be in store this time, as Brady and the Patriots secure a fourth championship.

Super Bowl XLIX prediction: Patriots 27, Seahawks 23