Sports Reference Blog
PFR Adds Preseason Over/Unders and Super Bowl Odds
Posted by Alex Bonilla on May 6, 2019
Pro-Football-Reference has added preseason Super Bowl odds back to 1977, as well as preseason over/unders on win totals back to 1989. This information can be found on a team's season page in their information profile. For example, you can go to the 2011 Eagles page and quickly spot they were +800 to win the Super Bowl before the season, and that the over/under for their win total was set at 10.5. (They would go on to finish under that year.)
You can also see the preseason Super Bowl odds and over/unders for all teams in a season by going to a league season page, and then following the Preseason Odds link located in the Other tab. Here's a link to the 2018 odds table, where you can spot the Super Bowl-winning Patriots having the best odds before the season and the highest-set over/under (which they pushed on).
One question that can be answered with this information is: who were the unlikeliest Super Bowl winners based on these preseason odds? Here's a look at the top 10 longest odds since 1977.
| RAM | 1999 | +15000 |
| NWE | 2001 | +6000 |
| SFO | 1981 | +5000 |
| PHI | 2017 | +4000 |
| RAI | 1980 | +3500 |
| WAS | 1982 | +3500 |
| NYG | 2007 | +3000 |
| RAV | 2000 | +2200 |
| NYG | 2011 | +2200 |
| NOR | 2009 | +2000 |
Also, here's a look at the teams since 1989 that outperformed their preseason over/unders the most.
| O/U | Wins | Over by | ||
| RAM | 1999 | 5.5 | 13 | 7.5 |
| SDG | 2004 | 4.5 | 12 | 7.5 |
| PIT | 2004 | 7.5 | 15 | 7.5 |
| ATL | 1998 | 7 | 14 | 7 |
| MIN | 1998 | 8.5 | 15 | 6.5 |
| CLT | 1999 | 6.5 | 13 | 6.5 |
| ATL | 2008 | 4.5 | 11 | 6.5 |
| CAR | 1996 | 5.5 | 12 | 6.5 |
| CAR | 2015 | 8.5 | 15 | 6.5 |
| CHI | 2001 | 7 | 13 | 6 |
A special thanks to sportsoddshistory.com for contributing to this addition to our site. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to contact us through our feedback form. Also, please keep your eyes peeled for similar content coming to our other sites in the future.
[…] this month, Pro-Football-Reference made an addition of preseason Super Bowl odds. In a similar vein, Sports-Reference's college football site now has preseason national […]