When the Detroit Lions host the San Francisco 49ers this Sunday for the opening round of the 2021 NFL season, they will be one of only seven home teams that oddsmakers at FOX Bet MI and TwinSpires Sportsbook MI expect to lose.
But perhaps more distressing to Lions fans would be the extent of their expected loss to the 49ers; FOX Bet has the 49ers as 7.5-point favorites, while TwinSpires lists them at 8. The over/under is 45 points at both sportsbooks.
The new season kicks off in Tampa at 8:20 pm ET on Thursday. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, winners of Super Bowl LV, will begin defense of their title against their conference rivals, the Dallas Cowboys.
While the Bucs, led by veteran quarterback Tom Brady, won it all last year, the Cowboys finished the regular season with a 6-10 record and missed the playoffs entirely. The Bucs are favored to win the opening contest by 8.5 points at FOX Bet, with an over/under of 52.5 points.
Week 1 action returns with nine games at 1 pm ET on Sunday afternoon. Besides the Lions, the other home teams that both sportsbooks expect to come up short are the Cincinnati Bengals, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, NY Giants and Las Vegas Raiders, who will be playing their first season in Sin City.
The Cowboys appear to have the biggest payout for an upset of the Bucs at +310 on TwinSpires and +350 on FOX Bet.
Bets on Super Bowl LVI Champion
The odds of the Kansas City Chiefs winning Super Bowl LVI are +475 on TwinSpires, +500 on FOX Bet. The Bucs are +650 at both sportsbooks, while the Buffalo Bills and Green Bay Packers are +1,200 and +1,300, respectively, at FOX Bet and +1,100 and +1,200, also respectively, at TwinSpires.
For optimistic Lions fans, a championship will pay +12,500 at FOX Bet and +20,000 at TwinSpires. The Houston Texans are actually a longer shot at both books; the Texans are priced at +20,000 at FOX Bet and +25,000 at TwinSpires.
Custom Bets of Interest
FOX Bet MI has several interesting, customized bets involving the Lions’ performance during the regular season.
At one end of betting spectrum, a bet for the Lions, Texans, Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers to win eight games or fewer is priced at +160. A separate wager for the Lions and Texans to each have fewer than five regular season wins is priced at +225.
In the middle of the pack, a rather complex wager—where the Bills win 11 games or more, the New England Patriots win 10 games or more, the Atlanta Falcons win seven or fewer and the Lions win five or fewer—is priced at +800. Similarly, a wager for the Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens to win 12 or more games each, while the Bengals win six or fewer and the Lions win four or fewer is listed at +1,000.
Finally, a bet that the Lions and Texans would both go 0-17 is priced at +75,000.
The ultimate longshot? That would be for each NFL team to score 70 touchdowns or more this season. That bet is priced at +200,000 on FOX Bet.
