NFL Season End Betting

Betting on the final week of the NFL season is not for the novice football bettor. Week 17 of the NFL brings chaos to many bettors each year. This is because NFL teams are either in contention to make the playoffs or are already in the playoffs with their filed home locked up, which causes some serious situations to arise where there is no motivation to win the game.

That being said, teams that have the field closed and have nothing to gain will almost always sit their starters out for the entire game or at least half the game. An example would be week 17 of the 2005/2006 season in which the Seattle Seahawks opened as minus-2 favorites at Lambeau Field vs. Green Bay Packers. Quickly the line fell and began to go in favor of Green Bay with a huge movement of 7 ½ points until reaching -5.5 at the time of the game.

A better rookie wouldn’t be aware of the fact that both the quarterback and the rest of the starters and main cogs would be sitting out after the first series or two of the game and view this as a dream line with Seattle getting 5.5 points. The punter naturally can’t contain himself and therefore places a big bet on Seattle. But in the meantime, the Packers are the value game here despite having to put up the points. Seattle, then, has no motivation to win and wants to protect the health of the starters for the playoffs, so this puts them in a position where they don’t worry if they lose the game.

We hope you are better informed to think before you bet on fish lines at the end of the NFL football season in the future. Always do your research and read game previews to help tell if a team that is fighting for playoff position has thrown in the towel or is going to drop their starting players. It will make a big difference and help you better explain the line because one thing you’ll notice pretty quickly when betting is if it seems too true than it mostly is!