The 2025 NFL season has been one of more surprises than usual. The Kansas City Chiefs, once regarded as a perennial Super Bowl contenders, limped out of the season early. The preseason betting favourites, the Ravens, have also struggled. The Bills must settle for a wild-card spot. Teams like the Broncos, Seahawks, Patriots and Bears have made a mockery of preseason odds.
Right now, the Super Bowl odds and Playoff futures are very tight at the top of the markets, with about half a dozen teams priced under 10/1, and several more in the “in with a shout” category. Yet, while the season has been characterised by shock results and a sense that anyone can beat anyone, we would also argue that form matters at this point of the campaign, and a handful of teams look like they are getting hot at just the right time.
Below, we highlight some of those teams and their odds:
San Francisco 49ers – 19/2
The 49ers feel like the team that everyone was sleeping on mid-season but now are starting to turn heads. In a way, there are parallels with the Eagles’ run to the Super Bowl last season, gaining momentum by November and quietly improving as the regular season neared its climax. The 49ers made it to the Super Bowl in February 2024, but followed that with a disastrous campaign last term, causing bookies and tipsters to cool on them for this season. As an aside, if they make it to Super Bowl LX, it will be played in their home turf of Levi’s Stadium.
Jacksonville Jaguars – 13/1
If it became mildly surprising to have the 49ers in contention, few would have picked the Jags as potential Super Bowl champions. Their current seven-game winning streak has been all the more impressive by way of defeating rival contenders like the Broncos and Texans. They don’t always blow teams away, but there is a grit about them, winning all types of games regardless of what opponents throw at them.
Houston Texans – 14/1
Locked in a battle for the AFC South with the Jaguars, the Texans are on a hot streak of their own. In fact, that streak started with a victory over the Jaguars in November, and they haven’t looked back since. A big win over the Bills – still a scalp, despite patchy form – was head-turning, as was an absolute hammering of the Ravens earlier in the season. They are still outsiders, but they are gaining respect as the season wears on.
New England Patriots – 9/1
12 wins in 13 games is the kind of form that Patriots fans were used to in the Tom Brady era. The consensus was that things would improve under new coach Mike Vrabel, certainly that they would go close to .500 after posting a 4-13 record in the 2024 season. Yet, in many ways, they have been the surprise package in a season full of surprises, securing the AFC East with room to spare. There are still doubts – and the defeat to the Bills in mid-December may come back to haunt them – but the Patriots have defied the critics and betting markets all season thus far, and they might be able to stretch that out until February.
