By Chad Rogers

Sports betting online allows bettors to start making wagers on the NFL odds long before the start of the new NFL season. The NFL odds have been posted up at sports books virtually right after the Pittsburgh Steelers were crowned the Super Bowl champs.

NFL Future bets can be a fun way to have action on every game, including the playoffs. If you are going to make a long-term investment, though, it should be well thought out.

This week I’m going to give you a little advice on how to shorten the list of Super Bowl hopefuls when looking at the Super Bowl odds for NFL betting.

So, this is how to shorten the list – some of the teams I cross off may surprise you…

After the roller coaster ride that has been the Denver Broncos off-season, team owner Pat Bowlen this week delivered even more of what fans in the Mile High city did not want to hear when asked if he thought his team was going to win the Super Bowl.

“Probably not,” Bowlen told the Denver Post. “But if we lose our first two games – and that’s a possibility – I’m not going to panic. I’m in this to win Super Bowls and we’re going to get back (there).”

First of all, let’s give Bowlen credit for being a realist. He’s right, Denver is very unlikely to win the Super Bowl. Sports books have the Super Bowl odds on Denver (online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.com has them listed at 40-1). But then if we look down the list of the remaining 31 NFL teams, how many others can we cross off and move into the “Lombardi-Free Zone” as non-contenders?

One of the most obvious places to start is Buffalo. The Bills bolstered an offensive attack that ranked 22^nd in passing yards per game last year by signing Terrell Owens and now figures it will make the leap to greatness. Buffalo will surely increase its merchandise sales but as far as overcoming TO’s poisonous character flaws, good luck. In fact let’s just cross Dallas, Philly and San Fran off the list, too. Until any team TO has ever played for wins anything, these guys get a red flag.

Pittsburgh is being cut on the basis that only one team this decade has repeated as champs. The Steelers are only paying 10-to-1 future odds anyways and for a bet that’s going to sit on the shelf this long there has to be a substantial payout waiting as a reward.

For that matter, we may as well place the Arizona Cardinals on the shortlist of NFL teams in the Lombardi-Free zone since the last time a Super Bowl loser came back to win the big game in subsequent years was the Miami Dolphins – 35 years ago. Don’t think for a second that sportsbooks in Vegas haven’t looked that one up either. The Super Bowl odds on the Cardinals is 25-to-1 at the online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING (dot) com, Capt. Kurt has not kept his Cards on the table.

Minnesota should be X-ed of the list of hopefuls just for getting mixed up in the Brett Favre soap opera that gets more tiresome by the season. It’s like the TV series “24” that won’t go away. Really, how could one guy have that many bad days?

With sports bettors and horse racing enthusiasts being swept up in the Triple Crown fever that started at the Kentucky Derby, using an approach such as this one for whittling down the list of teams actually seems to make a lot of sense. Crossing off horses that aren’t going to win a big race is much easier than trying to pick the one from a large field that will win.

On that note we also need to bid adieu to the Carolina Panthers (Super Bowl odds of 20-to-1). Since realignment in 2002, the NFC South is the only division that has not featured a back-to-back winner at the end of regular season play. Sure, there’s always the Wild Card, but we don’t want to complicate things.

So there you have it. With this process of elimination the Top 10 list of Super Bowl favorites has been cut in half!

It’s hard enough for most people to predict the Super Bowl winner during the bye week that follows the Conference Championships so if you do make a ‘Futures’ play in May nobody’s going to hold you to your decision or make fun if it’s wrong. Getting a few ideas, though, and keeping closer tabs on the teams your gut is telling you have a shot is a sound strategy as the mini-camps open up.

Tracking the line moves for the Super Bowl winner at your online sportsbook can also be an indicator to how the oddsmakers are thinking and where the early money is going. The more you know, the better prepared you can be when the NFL betting really heats up in early September.

Good luck with all your NFL betting. You can check out all the NFL odds and all future betting odds at the online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.com

Author: Chad Rogers has been an avid follower and handicapper of North American sports for over 20 years and has written about sports and sports betting for the last decade. Chad specializes in articles focused on the NFL, NFL betting and overall "how-to" handicapping articles.