Morning Coffee: The race for the NFC’s top seed could go down to the wire

The Atlanta Falcons are one game back of first place in the NFC South with three games remaining.

It’s not an ideal situation for a team that was the pre-season betting favourite to win its division at FanDuel. 

At the same time, Atlanta is fortunate to even be in the hunt for a playoff spot through 15 weeks.

The Falcons snapped a four-game slide with a 15-9 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday Night Football. 

While Atlanta won and covered as a 5.5-point favourite, the Raiders had the football down six points in the final minute with a chance to pull off the upset at home.

The Falcons didn’t exactly dominate in a must-win game.

At 7-7, Atlanta is now one game back of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for first place in the NFC South.

They also own the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Buccaneers after sweeping the season series.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Vikings beat the Chicago Bears 30-12 last night to improve to 12-2.

The Vikings have as many wins in their previous seven games as the Falcons have in 14 games this season. 

Still, Minnesota is longer than 2-to-1 to win the loaded NFC North at FanDuel this morning.

This is the Morning Coffee for Tuesday December 17th, 2024.

The Race For The NFC’s Top Seed Could Go Down To The Wire  

The NFC North is the best division in football.

It might be the best division in any season since I started watching the NFL.

The Vikings and Detroit Lions are tied for the best record in the NFC North at 12-2.

Minnesota and Detroit are one game back of the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs for the best record in the NFL this morning.

One of those teams will have to travel for a road playoff game in the NFC Wild Card round.

The Lions are a -290 favourite to win the division.

The Vikings are the second choice at +220 at FanDuel.

If both teams win their next two games, it will set up a massive Week 18 showdown in Minnesota to decide the NFC North winner.

If either team stumbles before Week 18, it could cost them the division and potentially the NFC’s No. 1 seed.

The Philadelphia Eagles are also sitting at 12-2.

The Eagles are projected to be the favourite in each of their final three games, which leaves even less room for error for both the Lions and the Vikings the rest of the way.

Then there’s the Green Bay Packers at 10-4.

The Packers haven’t lost a non-division game since a Week 1 loss to the Eagles.

Technically, they still have a chance to win the division.

However, the more likely scenario is a potential path to the NFC Championship that includes a pair of road playoff games in the Wild Card and Divisional rounds.

The Lions, Vikings, and Packers are all among the top seven choices to win the Super Bowl at FanDuel.

That means one division makes up nearly 50 per cent of the top seven choices to win it all this season.

With three weeks to go in the regular season, I can’t wait to see how the NFC standings play out.

Regardless of what happens next, two of the top seven choices to win the Super Bowl will have to play a road playoff game in the NFC Wild Card round.

It might just turn out one of them travels to Atlanta.

A FanDuel Best Bet For Tuesday’s NBA Cup Action

The FanDuel Best Bets went 3-1 on Monday Night Football with the lone SGP loss coming by a single leg.

Turning the page this morning, we’ll try to find another winner after going a combined 11-3 over the weekend.

I’ll lock in a Same Game Parlay for the NBA Cup Championship Game tonight on TSN with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to score 25+ points, Damian Lillard to score 15+ points and Jalen Williams to score 15+ points at -119 odds.

Hopefully, we can stay hot with another winner tonight. 

Have a great day, everyone!