Vince Vaughn's character in Swingers can't wait to get to Las Vegas and live it up, screaming, "Vegas, baby, Vegas!" I recommend Rams fans, on the other hand, stay away from Sin City for awhile if they don't want bad news.
In recent days, Vegas oddsmakers have released an array of odds and betting lines for the 2010 season. While we noted that some prediction gurus calculated that the Rams will pull off 4.1 wins, some sites have a variety of different predictions and outlooks. Most of them are not so good:
- The crew over at VegasInsider and Bodog have their future win total odds based off of 5 wins. The only other teams with the same number? The Detroit Lions and the Buffalo Bills.
- For the Rams' first game, a division contest against Arizona, we are anywhere from 3-4 point underdogs. Normally, about 3 points is considered "homefield advantage." The unfortunate thing is, this game is at home, so the oddsmakers think we're realistically 5-7 point underdogs in terms of talent.
- Our odds to win the NFC Championship are 75-to-1, good for the worst chance in the conference. The team with the second-worst odds is Tampa Bay with about 50-to-1 odds.
- Think you're really, really, lucky and that the Rams are going to undergo the greatest turnaround in NFL history? Get rich! Put some money on the Rams winning the Super Bowl. Current odds put us at about 150-to-1 odds of winning the big one.
Two significant notes:
- Even if we win 4 games, that would be a drastic improvement over the single game we won last year. Also, the odds infer that there is a fairly good chance the Rams could win 5 games. If the Rams were to go 5-11, by all means it would be disappointing, but pragmatically we'd have to be pleased.
- Additionally, by no means are these absolute numbers. Right now many sites don't have their odds set, the "action" on the odds and lines can move them one way or another, and the folk over in Vegas change them all the time for their esoteric reasons. Some sites have the betting line of the Rams winning the NFC West at +1500 or +1200, others have our chances at the NFC Championship at 60-to-1, and still others have our odds of winning the Super Bowl at 100-to-1...nonetheless, it doesn't look pretty.