Being A Pre-Season Favorite Doesn't Mean Much In The NFL

Thanks to David Fucillo from one of our sister sites (Niners Nation) for passing this along to me.

I know we all like to look at pre-season magazines and listen to the predictions of the "experts" as we get closer to the football season. . .after all, we haven't seen meaningful football in about five months, and we're chomping at the bit for more. But those predictions, for the most part, really don't mean a whole lot.

The folks from Sports Odds History have compiled this list of Super Bowl favorites from the last 12 years. It shows that being the favorites in the pre-season doesn't necessarily mean a championship. In fact, in the last 12 years, only one team that has been the pre-season favorite to win it all has won it all.

Year	Pre-Season Favorite	Eventual Champion
2001	St. Louis Rams	New England Patriots
2002	St. Louis Rams	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2003	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	New England Patriots
2004	Philadelphia Eagles	New England Patriots
2005	Indianapolis Colts/Philadelphia Eagles/New England Patriots	Pittsburgh Steelers
2006	Indianapolis Colts	Indianapolis Colts
2007	New England Patriots	New York Giants
2008	New England Patriots	Pittsburgh Steelers
2009	New England Patriots	New Orleans Saints
2010	Indianapolis Colts	Green Bay Packers
2011	New England Patriots	New York Giants
2012	Green Bay Packers	????

For that 2005 entry, those three teams all started the season with the same odds.

The Vikings are still a long shot, to be sure. . .when my wife and I were in Vegas for our anniversary back in March, I found a casino that was willing to give me 80-to-1 on the Vikings winning Super Bowl XLVII. (And, yes, I placed that bet. . .it'll be awesome if it hits, but it's not really something I'm expecting.) But being the favorite in early July really means squat in the world of the National Football League. I guess that's why we enjoy it so much, huh?