Competitive NFC Playoffs Led By No. 1 Seed New Orleans Saints

NFL News - January 5th, 2010 - Written by John

The New Orleans Saints backed into the playoffs with three-straight losses, but enter as the odds-on favorites to win the NFC Championship. BetUS recently floated NFL Playoff Betting Odds to predict the conference winner, and it's New Orleans who gets the nod over several hotter teams coming in.

In a fairly predictable shake, the top-three seeds are the top-three horses in order. After the Saints at +125, the Minnesota Vikings follow up at +325.

Perhaps if the Vikings had made a stronger run at the end of the year, they could be preferred to win the conference, but Brett Favre was short of sizzling, and Adrian Peterson saw his yardage total decline in December. Minnesota lost two of it's last four to end the year, including ugly defeats at the hands of the Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals.

The Panthers loss was probably the most unsettling because it was on prime time, and Favre was involved in a sideline dispute with head coach Brad Childress over playing time. But he came back in a big way, throwing four touchdowns in a rout of the New York Giants in the finale.

For the year, Favre had an almost-5-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio, and had the third-most yards of his career (4,202).

What makes the NFC bracket so interesting is that while the AFC seems to be a two-, maybe three-, horse race, the NFC has clearly been a tighter battle with a cluster of teams who have a legitimate shot at taking the title. Three of the top-four passers hail in the conference.

Unlike the AFC, the bottom two teams in the NFC bracket could be really scary to any team they play, and one of them will certainly make it to the second round.

Those two teams are the Green Bay Packers and the Arizona Cardinals are tied with a return of +1000, and they play each other in the first round finale on Sunday night in a rematch of Green Bay's 33-7 drubbing in the season finale.

Green Bay has won seven of eight, and has scored more points (117) in the last three games than any other team in the league.

Another reason this side of the bracket is must-see television is the potential match-ups down the road. While both first-round games are rematches from Week 17 games, round two could pit the Vikings against the Packers, giving Favre one more shot at his former team.

In the middle of the odds sheet, the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles are given relatively good odds at +475 and +750, respectively, according to BetUS Sportsbook. The Cowboys get the edge over the Eagles because they host this weekend's wild card match-up, and have swept the season series.

Dallas completed the sweep with a 24-0 shutout in the season finale, and have won two-straight since being left for dead in mid-December.