Patriots among biggest playoff favorites of past 40 years
The New England Patriots are the biggest playoff favorites since 1998.
The Patriots opened as 14.5-point favorites against the Houston Texans in Saturday’s AFC divisional playoff game at Gillette Stadium.
The line quickly grew to New England -16 shortly after being posted Sunday afternoon at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, making it one of the four largest playoff point spreads in the past 40 seasons.
The dynamic 1998 Minnesota Vikings were 16-point favorites over the Arizona Cardinals in the divisional round of the playoffs. In the 1994 postseason, Steve Young’s San Francisco 49ers were 17.5-point favorites over the Chicago Bears in the divisional round and then 18-point favorites over the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX.
Going back further, the Baltimore Colts lost to…