Updated Super Bowl 55 Odds After Week 9 – Saints, Seahawks Among Top Contenders Seeing Major Movement

• The latest odds for Super Bowl 55 Champion have been released
• Kansas City (+350) still holds the best odds, but Pittsburgh (+550), and New Orleans (+750) are close behind
• Odds for every team and a pick are provided below

With half of the season left to play, and some big results from this week, the latest Super Bowl odds have been reset.

New Orleans came away with what might have been the most impressive win of the week following a 38-3 drubbing of Tampa Bay, but other top contenders like Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and Green Bay all got big wins as well.

The focus now turns to which team can keep its positive momentum rolling as the postseason draws nearer, and if one of the top contenders can separate itself from the pack.

Super Bowl 55 Odds

Current odds taken Nov. 9 at Fan Duel

Saints Hitting Their Stride

Coming into this week, the Saints had been playing well, but they weren’t close to winning games by the sort of margin that they did against Tampa Bay on Sunday night. Two of their previous four consecutive wins heading into the game were won in overtime, and three of those four were decided by a field goal.

Even though the Bucs are a dramatically different team than the past few seasons, New Orleans was ready for them this week. Tampa Bay didn’t even pick up a first down until the second quarter, and its offense only came away with 194 total yards.

Two different nights for two legendary QBs.

🏴‍☠️ Tom Brady: 22/38, 209 Pass Yards, 0 TDs, 3 INTs
⚜️ Drew Brees: 26/32, 222 Pass Yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs pic.twitter.com/FT19lECGi2

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 9, 2020

The challenge is determining whether or not the Sunday night Saints are the rule or the exception going forward. New Orleans played well above its averages this week on defense, and have one of the more favorable remaining schedules of the teams at the top.

The other constant to keep an eye on is the health of Drew Brees, who has been playing through some variety of shoulder pain. For a player that has already been scrutinized for declining arm strength, that is an unwelcome scenario for fans and bettors alike. However, with two wins over the Bucs already, things line up for New Orleans to control the NFC South for the second half of the season.

Steelers’ Achilles Heel

Pittsburgh rebounded from an uninspiring first half to rally and beat Dallas, 24-19. The Steelers began a soft three-game sequence this past week with the Cowboys, and they’ll host Cincinnati next week before traveling to Jacksonville the week after.

JuJu Smith-Schuster is one happy guy after the @steelers got the W over the Cowboys and advanced to 8-0 for the first time in team history.

🎤 @tracywolfson pic.twitter.com/33CnNF7JRw

— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) November 9, 2020

After two close road wins at Tennessee and Baltimore over the previous two weeks, Pittsburgh didn’t bring its best effort to Big D. The Bengals could be a blowout candidate this week, as Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin isn’t likely to be thrilled with what he saw against the Cowboys, and will demand a better performance next time out.

Two areas of concern for the Steelers are the defense’s ability to stop the run after a season-ending injury to linebacker Devin Bush and the ineffectiveness of their own ground attack over the last three weeks. With a challenging schedule to close out the season, finding the remedy for both of those things is a top priority. In their last three games without Bush, the Steelers have allowed 491 rushing yards while only producing 188 yards of their own.

Seattle’s Defensive Struggles

Really, the bet that everyone missed taking was the over on the number of times media personalities have uttered the phrase “Let Russ cook.”

This throw from @dangerusswilson 😯

📺: #SEAvsBUF on FOX
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/MXkgo0fhcN pic.twitter.com/PEHxDFdk59

— NFL (@NFL) November 8, 2020

For the Seattle Seahawks, turning quarterback Russell Wilson loose has been their best option with a defense that hasn’t provided an abundance of resistance this season. The cracks have been even more evident recently after Seattle has lost two of its last three games. Buffalo passed all over an injury-riddled Seahawks secondary on Sunday, didn’t turn the ball over, and won 44-34.

Even in Seattle’s Week 8 win at home against a battered San Francisco side, the Seahawks were out-gained by a yard offensively and allowed the 49ers to convert all of their fourth down and red zone attempts. Seattle has plenty of winnable games left on its schedule, but even after trading for Carlos Dunlap, the Seahawks don’t appear to have the tools needed for sustained defensive success in the playoffs.

The Verdict

Kansas City has given few reasons to doubt its potential to repeat as Super Bowl champions this year. The Chiefs’ only loss came in Week 5 against Las Vegas, and coming out of the bye week, they’ll have a chance for revenge on Sunday. If they can replicate what New Orleans did against Tampa Bay in two weeks when they face the Bucs, Kansas City’s resumé will be just as good as anyone else’s league-wide.

That being said, the competition in the AFC is much tougher at the top than it is in the NFC. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been playing like a man possessed this season, and leads the NFL in ESPN’s Total QBR rating at 87.6. Green Bay already beat New Orleans earlier this year but hasn’t been nearly as efficient on defense as the Saints have been since.

Assuming that Brees’ shoulder concerns don’t extend beyond the routine ‘maintenance’ he credited for his injury distinction, the Saints look primed to be the ascending team out of the top group at the moment. The Chiefs are an easy, safe play as favorites at +350, but this could be Brees’ final season, and the path out of the NFC is shaping up to be more manageable for the Saints than others in the conference.

The Pick: Saints +750