NFL Trends and Futures: 6-0 Teams and Super Bowl Betting Odds

With three of the five remaining undefeated NFL teams on byes this week, you might be curious to find out how teams historically fare that have reached 6-0 through their first six games.

There is actually a great chance the Green Bay Packers, Denver Broncos and Cincinnati Bengals will make the playoffs this year based on the fact that 10 of the last 11 teams to start 6-0 have reached the postseason.

The New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers are both 5-0 and will try to join that elite group with home wins in Week 7 on Sunday.

Taking it a step further, there is also a solid shot that at least one of the 6-0 teams will be playing in Super Bowl 50 next February. Of those previous 11 teams that won their first six games, four (36 percent) made it all the way to the big game, with six of them (55 percent) at least reaching the conference title game.

However, the lone team to win the Super Bowl during that stretch was the New Orleans Saints after the 2009 season. The Saints won the NFC following an impressive 13-0 start that year while the AFC champion Indianapolis Colts were even better at 14-0 before losing their first game.

The Patriots and Panthers are each favored to put themselves into position for a favorable run at the Super Bowl as well against the New York Jets (4-1) and Philadelphia Eagles (3-3), respectively.

New England obviously is no stranger to perfect starts, becoming the first team to ever go 16-0 during the regular season in 2007. The Patriots ironically lost the Super Bowl that year to a New York Giants team that started the season with the odds against them after losing its first two games.

The latest NFL betting odds have New England as a consensus nine-point favorite hosting the Jets, while Carolina is three-point chalk facing the Eagles in the Sunday night matchup.

The Panthers have never started 6-0 and are coming off a 27-23 win over the two-time defending NFC champion Seattle Seahawks last Sunday as seven-point road underdogs.

The Patriots just beat the Indianapolis Colts 34-27 in last week’s Sunday night game but fell short of covering as 8.5-point road favorites.