Following a one-sided and altogether forgettable Super Bowl LX matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, it's now time to officially turn the page to the 2026 NFL season. Yes, we have a brutally long, 214-day wait until regular season action begins, but it's not at all premature to begin wondering what the league's 107th season will bring.
The best way to partake in the admittedly very early prognostications relating to the 2026 campaign is naturally to wonder what team will be the 61st to get its hands on the Lombardi Trophy. Sure, free agency, the NFL Draft and a seven-month window in which trades can reshape the landscape of the league could certainly push new or unexpected contenders to the forefront of the conversation -- New England and Seattle, who were both 60-to-1 longshots to win the Super Bowl before the season began are great examples -- but again, now's a great time to begin examining who could end up being Super Bowl bound.
At the conclusion of Sunday night's beatdown in Santa Clara, most sportsbooks updated their Super Bowl LXI odds, and predictably, the now-defending champion Seahawks are co-betting favorites at +950 odds along with the Los Angeles Rams to win Super Bowl LXI. The defending AFC Champion Patriots have the fourth-best odds at +1300, with their AFC East rival the Buffalo Bills right ahead of them at +1100.
Much to the dismay of fans in Houston, Texas, the Texans odds to win the Super Bowl next February don't even crack the top ten, according to DraftKings Sportsbook.
Team | Odds |
|---|---|
Seattle Seahawks | +950 |
Los Angeles Rams | +950 |
Buffalo Bills | +1100 |
New England Patriots | +1300 |
Philadelphia Eagles | +1300 |
Baltimore Ravens | +1300 |
Green Bay Packers | +1400 |
Detroit Lions | +1400 |
Los Angeles Chargers | +1500 |
Kansas City Chiefs | +1500 |
San Francisco 49ers | +1700 |
Denver Broncos | +1800 |
Houston Texans | +2000 |
Now on one hand, there are certainly some teams listed ahead of the Texans who deserve such standing, or at the very least, it's not a surprise that they'd be considered to have more Super Bowl equity than Houston. But I spy with my little eye three teams -- the Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs -- that missed the postseason altogether last year. I also see two teams -- the Green Bay Packers and Los Angeles Chargers -- that finished with a worse record than the Texans and were eliminated in an earlier round of the Playoffs than Houston was.
I also see 11 teams -- with Detroit as the lone outlier -- that will have enter the 2026 season with a tougher strength of schedule based on 2025 opponents records than the Texans (.474) will have. And if you're sitting there wondering whether this actually matters, then I should remind you that the Seahawks (.474) and Patriots (.429) had the 22nd and 30th most difficult schedules respectively heading into the 2025 season.
Is this the be-all and end-all to determining what team's will be the final two standing? Of course not, but you'd be wise at least factor that in when you're looking for a Super Bowl pick, and if you combine that with Houston's recent success -- three straight seasons with at least 10 regular season wins and a victory in the Playoffs -- and the fact that virtually the entire Texans defense will be back next season, this feels like tremendous value on the board.