Rodgers Rockets Into MVP Race
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers are rolling and the sportsbooks are taking notice.
At Westgate SuperBook, the Packers opened the season at 30/1 to win the Super Bowl and a slight underdog to the Vikings in the NFC North race. However, after resounding victories over Minnesota and Detroit to start the season, the Packers’ championship odds have been sliced to 12/1. Only the Baltimore Ravens (7/2), Kansas City Chiefs (5/1), New Orleans Saints (10/1) and Seattle Seahawks (10/1) have shorter odds.
At PointsBet, the Packers were an even bigger long shot. They opened at 35/1 to win this year’s Super Bowl. Now, they’re 16/1. Only Baltimore (19/4), Kansas City (5/1), New Orleans (9/1), Seattle (12/1) and San Francisco (14/1) have shorter odds.
Green Bay’s offense has been on a tear. It’s scored 85 points in the first two games; it scored 85 points in the first four games of last season.
With quarterback Aaron Rodgers throwing six touchdowns against no interceptions, he is rocketing up the MVP board. Seattle’s Russell Wilson is the new favorite at 3/1. Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, the last two MVPs, are 5/1.
Rodgers, the 2011 and 2014 winner, is fourth on the board at 8/1.
“He’s doing it again. It’s hard to root against him,” said Andrew Mannino, the senior sports content analyst at PointsBet. “If the Packers make a real run, he’s going to be instrumental in that. I think bettors are seeing that the NFC isn’t exactly lopsided the way that some of the AFC is, so if they get on a run, he’s going to be a big part of that. I think the odds reflect that.”
In NFL Network’s annual player-voted “Top 100 Players” series, Rodgers was only 16th. With that, receiver Davante Adams saw some foreshadowing of what was to come.
“Aaron’s going to come in ballin’ and do his thing and he’s got the right mind-set,” Adams said early in training camp when asked about potential motivation in the team’s selection of quarte4rback Jordan Love. “My perception of it is that he’s just going to be Aaron. I saw something, which means absolutely nothing, but I saw something that said that the last couple of times he was named outside of the top 10 of the top 100, that he won MVP. So, we can’t rule it out. It’s happened before twice. So, we’ll see.”
