Browns 20-1 odds to win the Super Bowl
By STEVE KING
Perhaps the Browns have just been given another tool to attract players when the NFL free agency signing period begins on Wednesday.
Las Vegas SuperBook has the Browns as 20-1 favorites to win the Super Bowl in the 2019 season.
Yes, the Browns, who have never even been to a Super Bowl, are one of teams given a puncher’s chance to win it all.
Yes, the Browns, who didn’t win a game two seasons ago and just one the year before that, in 2016, are now among the NFL’s top teams. In fact, the way Las Vegas SuperBook sees it, there are only 10 clubs with better odds than Cleveland.
It just goes to show what a 7-8-1 record last year, remaining in the playoff race into the next-to-last weekend of the season, hiring a head coach in Freddie Kitchens who is perceived to be an up-and-comer in the league, and the drafting of Baker Mayfield, who proved in his rookie season to be the franchise quarterback the Browns have been seeking for the last 25 years, will do for you.
The Browns are actually one of five teams with 20-1 Super Bowl odds next season, along with the 2018 Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, the AFC North rival and defending division champion Baltimore Ravens, and two AFC playoff teams from last season in the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts. That’s pretty impressive company, wouldn’t you say?
The Kansas Chiefs, who, in epic fashion, nearly defeated the eventual Super Bowl champion New England Dolphins in the AFC Championship Game, are the favorites, at 6-1, to win their first Super Bowl since 1970. That was the 1969 season (the last before the NFL-AFL merger was completed), when the Chiefs’ opponent in the AFL Championship Game was nearly the Browns. Cleveland, under head coach Blanton Collier, lost 27-7 to the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL Championship Game. That was the second straight season that the Browns came within one win of the Super Bowl, losing 34-0 to the Baltimore Colts in the 1968 NFL title contest.
For those counting, the Browns have come within a victory of a Super Bowl appearance on five occasions overall, the other three coming in the 1986, ’87 and ’89 AFC title games.
The Patriots and Los Angeles Rams, whom New England beat in the Super Bowl 2½ months ago, and the New Orleans Saints are all next with 8-1 odds.
Another set of three clubs – the Los Angeles Chargers, Chicago Bears and new-look Pittsburgh Steelers after probably losing their two best players – follow with 14-1 odds.
The last three teams ahead of the group the Browns are in, the Minnesota Vikings, Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers, are at 16-1.
After the Browns’ group are the Seattle Seahawks with 30-1 odds.
The rest of the league teams and their odds are:
*40-1: Atlanta Falcons, Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Giants.
*50-1: San Francisco 49ers.
*60-1: Carolina Panthers, Tennessee Titans and Denver Broncos.
*80-1: Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets.
*100-1: Washington Redskins, Detroit Lions, Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals and Oakland Raiders.
*300-1: Miami Dolphins.
Depending on what they do in free agency and the NFL Draft, their odds could go up or down. But, with what they’ve been through in the seasons leading up to 2018, being where they’re at right now is a great place to start.
