Super Bowl 57 odds: Bears have same long-shot NFL futures Bengals had this time last year; Rams not favored to repeat
Could the Chicago Bears be the Cincinnati Bengals of the 2022 NFL season?
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Immediately after Super Bowl 55 about this time last year, the Cincinnati Bengals were +8000 long shots to win Super Bowl 56 and that the Bengals even got to the big game was one of the big surprises in league history. Alas, they came up just short against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday in SB 56. Could the Chicago Bears be the Bengals of the 2022 season? They also are priced at +8000 to win Super Bowl 57 and also have a former superstar college quarterback who might make a leap in his second NFL season.
Cincinnati was coming off a 4-11-1 record in 2020, a season in which then-rookie quarterback Joe Burrow, a first-round pick and former Heisman winner from LSU, was limited to 10 games due to injury.
Chicago is coming off a 6-11 record in 2021, a season in which rookie quarterback Justin Fields, a first-round pick and former Heisman finalist from Ohio State, was limited to 12 games due to injury/sitting behind Andy Dalton. Oh, the Bears did beat the Bengals in Week 2, at which point Cincinnati rose to +15000 to win Super Bowl 56.
There are many big differences between the 2021 Bengals and 2022 Bears, though, as Chicago doesn't have a first-round pick in this year's draft, while Cincinnati took receiver Ja'Marr Chase at No. 5 overall in the 2021 draft, and he had one of the great rookie seasons ever by a receiver in winning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year honors. The Bears don't have a playmaker like that, plus a rookie head coach in former Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus (and new general manager).
Only two rookie head coaches have won a Super Bowl: Don McCafferty of the Colts and George Seifert of the 49ers and both took over loaded teams. The Bears do have a fairly easy schedule next season, ranked as the 24th-toughest with their opponents combining for a winning percentage of .471 this past season. Chicago doesn't play the Bengals or Rams.
There is one other team priced exactly at +8000 to win Super Bowl 57 as the Bengals were a year ago: Carolina, but the Panthers don't have a promising quarterback as things stand. They could trade for Deshaun Watson.
The only teams with longer odds than the Bears and Panthers to win Super Bowl 57, which will be played Feb. 12, 2023 at State Farm Stadium outside Phoenix, are the Giants (+10000), Jaguars (+12500), Lions (+15000), Texans (+20000) and Jets (+20000).
The Rams are +1000 third-favorites behind the Kansas City Chiefs (+700) and Buffalo Bills (+750) to become the first club since the Patriots in the 2004 season to repeat.
Caesars Sportsbook favorites to win Super Bowl 57
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