CHARLOTTE – (Wire Service Report) – The Los Angeles Rams will travel cross country as the No. 5 seed in the NFC to play at a division champion in the wild-card round, and they will do it as a double-digit favorite.
The Carolina Panthers (8-9) backed into the playoffs courtesy of Atlanta’s win over New Orleans, and their reward as the NFC South champions is a date against a team that has been among the Super Bowl favorites all year. The Rams (12-5) were installed as a 10.0-point favorite by DraftKings for the wild-card opener on Saturday — nearly a touchdown bigger spread than in any of the other five games.
By contrast, Saturday’s second game will pit Chicago against bitter division rival Green Bay. The Bears are the No. 2 seed in the NFC, but opened as a +1.5-point home underdog against the Packers. The teams split their regular-season meetings, with the Bears winning 22-16 in overtime at home in Week 16.
Despite Green Bay closing the regular season on a four-game losing streak, the Packers were installed as one of four road favorites in the first round.
Sunday will feature two of the marquee matchups of wild-card weekend.
Jacksonville (13-4) will play host to Buffalo (12-5), with the Bills opening as a 1.5-point road favorite against the AFC South champions. The game also features the highest total points line at 51.5.
The Bills and Jaguars will be followed by the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles (11-6) playing host to the San Francisco 49ers (12-5). Philadelphia opened tied as the second biggest favorite of the weekend at -3.5.
That equals the line for the New England Patriots (14-3), who will close out Sunday’s trio of games at home against the Los Angeles Chargers (11-6).
The first round of the playoffs will conclude will the fourth road favorite. Pittsburgh (10-7) was the last team into the postseason on Sunday night courtesy of a missed field goal on the final play of the regular season, and the Steelers were immediately installed as a 3.0-point home underdog against the Houston Texans (12-5).
Along with the Packers-Bears, the Chargers-Patriots are tied for the lowest total points line of the weekend at 45.5.
Despite facing a potential three road-game gauntlet to reach the Super Bowl, the Rams enter the postseason with the second-shortest Super Bowl champion odds at +425. That’s behind only the Seattle Seahawks (14-3), who claimed the No. 1 seed in the NFC and a first-round bye.
The AFC’s top seed, the Denver Broncos (14-3), own the third-shortest title odds at +650.
SUPER BOWL CHAMPION ODDS *Set by Betting Hero
Seattle Seahawks (+340)
Los Angeles Rams (+425)
Denver Broncos (+650)
New England Patriots (+950)
Philadelphia Eagles (+1000)
Buffalo Bills (+1000)
Houston Texans (+1200)
Jacksonville Jaguars (+1400)
Green Bay Packers (+2200)
Chicago Bears (+2200)
San Francisco 49ers (+2800)
Los Angeles Chargers (+2800)
Pittsburgh Steelers (+5000)
Carolina Panthers (+15000)
–Field Level Media