NFC Championship Game features highest playoff betting total on record
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Sunday's NFC Championship Game will feature two of the hottest offensive units in all of football, the Green Bay Packers and the Atlanta Falcons. It's been said that defense wins championships - but these two teams beg to differ.
As soon as the possibility presented itself, sports bettors had no choice but to daydream about the possibility of hitting an easy Over with Aaron Rodgers going toe-to-toe with Matt Ryan with a trip to Super Bowl 51 on the line. Well, as it turns out, the oddsmakers had similar dreams.
While Rodgers was slinging bullets down the sidelines to tiptoeing tight ends and Mason Crosby was knuckling 50+ yard field goals to beat the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium, oddsmakers were scrambling to get odds on the board for the showdown at the Georgia Dome - and they certainly did not disappoint.
As expected, the Falcons opened as 4 to 4.5-point favorites, but the real highlight came with the release of the total. A staggering 60 was the first Over/Under figure to hit the board in Las Vegas.
“I can’t remember a higher total,” said Jay Kornegay, vice president of race and sports at the Westgate LV Superbook.
As the dust settled on an exciting evening of playoff football, and most of us nestled into bed for the night, Over bettors decided this was their time to strike. And by Monday morning, the lofty total of 60 was bet up a full point to its current number of 61.
Mr. Kornegay, from the Superbook, may not remember a higher NFL total - but our stats database never forgets. While we still have many days before we get a closing number for the NFC Championship Game, the current number of 61 would be the second highest betting total ever recorded in our records (complete data back to 1985).
The highest total was a Week 9 game between the St. Louis Rams and the San Francisco 49ers back in the 2000-2001 season that was pegged with a 61.5. On that afternoon at 3Com Park in San Francisco, "The Greatest Show on Turf" defeated the Niners, 34-24, failing to cash for Over bettors.
When narrowing the search to include only NFL playoff games we discover the highest betting total on record was a 59.5 between the Detroit Lions and the New Orleans Saints during Wild-Card Week back in the 2011-12 season. The two teams combined for 73 points in a 45-28 victory by the Saints and cashed Over tickets with a furious 28-point fourth quarter.
It's difficult to predict where the number for the Packers and the Falcons will end up by Sunday afternoon. We can be pretty confident that it will end up as the highest total in NFL playoff history and, if Over bettors hit it hard enough, it could get a bump and end up as the highest Over/Under figure we've ever seen for an NFL game.