NFL Week 9 Favorites Win 14 Games
In Week 9 of the National Football League season, teams heavily favored in betting markets won 14 of 15 matchups, according to a report by ESPN.
The surge of chalk results inflicted widespread financial losses across the sports betting industry, with multiple sportsbooks confirming the slate was their worst-performing week of the season.
ESPN research shows that 14 wins by favorites in a single week marks only the fourth time that feat has occurred during the Super Bowl era. The 14 victories are the most ever recorded in a single week of NFL play.
Green Bay Packers Upset New England Patriots as Lone Underdog Winner
The week opened with the first 12 games going to the betting favorites. That streak finally ended during a late Sunday afternoon matchup when the Green Bay Packers defeated the New England Patriots. The Packers entered the game as 3.5-point underdogs, making them a rare exception in an otherwise chalk-heavy week.
Joey Pizel noted in an email to ESPN that aside from the Packers, underdogs failed to secure victories on Sunday. He added that even Green Bay, the lone exception, enjoyed substantial support from bettors ahead of kickoff.
Heavy Losses at Hard Rock Bet and Circa Sports
The financial damage extended from Sunday into Monday night. Hard Rock Bet senior vice president of sports betting Neil Walsh told ESPN that Sunday ranked as the company’s most damaging day in the past two years, with losses compounding on Monday.
The losses continued when the favored Buffalo Bills defeated the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football. According to Hard Rock Bet, nine of the ten parlays that remained alive heading into Monday night relied entirely on a Bills victory as the final leg of the wager.
Jamie Pielage, who manages NFL odds for Circa Sports, stated that his operation also managed parlays featuring 14-team and 15-team combinations that hinged solely on Buffalo winning the Monday night finale. Moneyline parlays, which tie multiple straight-win bets together to secure higher payouts, have grown increasingly popular in recent years.
Winning Favorites Covered the Point Spread in Most Games
Favorites did more than simply win their matchups. In 11 of the 15 games, winning favorites also covered the pre-established point spread, falling just one game short of the all-time single-week record.
Pielage explained that while the first half of the season proved relatively smooth for operators because underdogs frequently won, the Week 9 results severely favored the public. DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello observed that such weeks can occur three or four times per season. However, he cautioned that if similar outcomes happen with greater frequency, sportsbooks will struggle to hit their projected annual targets.
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