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Commanders Shocking Longshot Odds To Win Super Bowl LIX

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Richie Whitt | Last updated Jan 10, 2025 1:37 PM ET

If these Washington Commanders can so quickly - and refreshingly - make us forget about Dan Snyder, we shouldn't put anything past them. They've also, by the way, harpooned those preseason doom-and-gloom predictions.

The Commanders are still longshots to win next month's Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. They are a Wild Card team that hasn't won a playoff game in 20 years, playing a division champion, on the road, and starting a rookie quarterback against a Tampa Bay Buccaneers that blew them out in the same stadium during the regular season.

Washington is a 3-point underdog in Sunday night's playoff game and +4500 longshot to win the Super Bowl.

But from where they started, first-year coach Dan Quinn and the Commanders have already had a shockingly successful season.

At the end of the preseason in late August the odds looked much different in Washington and across the NFL. Back then the betting favorites to play in the Super Bowl were the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs. Among the Top 10 best odds were the Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets. Except for the Chiefs, none of those teams even produced a winning record much less a championship-level season.

Before Week 1 of the regular season the Commanders' odds were an astounding +15000, meaning a $100 bet would net you $15,000 if they won the Super Bowl. Only the New England Patriots, Carolina Panthers and New York Giants were given less of a chance to win the title.

But as the Patriots, Panthers and Giants finished in the bottom eight of the league, the Commanders soared to a 12-5 record accented with last-second victories accomplished by Hail Mary, defensive stand and a couple of touchdown passes.

"The team has earned the right to fight, and we're going to fight like Hell," Quinn said this week. "I'll leave it at that."

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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