NFL week 15: Final results ATS (Weirdness Killed the Winning Streak Edition)

19 December 2018

This is how a winning streak ends. NFLbets took a nice 7-0-2 run (4-0-1 in published NFLbets bets) into Sunday and walked into the perfect storm of week 15. The only games remotely resembling NFLbets’ preconceived notions were the Washington-Jacksonville slog and Chicago’s elimination of Green Bay by a touchdown. As for everything else, take a look at some of the cumulative numbers for an EEEEevil week 15:

• Home teams went 7-8-1 ATS, but a more predictable 10-6 SU.

• Current playoff teams – i.e. the Texans, Ravens, Saints, Rams, Bears, Cowboys, Seahawks and Vikings – went just 2-5-1 ATS vs non-playoff teams, despite going 5-3 SU.

• Altogether, current playoff teams in week 15 were 3-4 ATS (4-3 SU) at home and a dismal 1-3-1 ATS (2-3 SU) away. Note here that the sole current playoff team to bag an ATS win on the road was the Chargers, in NFLbets’ opinion, a verrrrrrrrrrrrry strong indicator that this team is going deep in the playoffs, likely as a road underdog in every playoff game.

But lest this column morph into a well too long “bad beat” story, we’ll put aside the gawking at oddity and get on with it. Below runs a complete list of results for week 15 in NFLbets’ standard format, i.e. adjusted for the point spread; all results listed in boldface indicate games in which the SU winner did not cover the spread. Comments, questionable humor and the occasional salient point courtesy NFLbets writer/editor Os Davis.

• Los Angeles Chargers 29 at Kansas City Chiefs 24½. We’re telling y’all: The Chargers, team without a home, makes Super Bowl LIII. And somewhere, fans of the Dayton Triangles are happy…

• Chicago Bears 19, Green Bay Packers 17
• Cincinnati Bengals 27, Las Vegas Raiders 16. So when the Bears grind out that Super Bowl win against the Chargers and Khalil Mack gets the Most Valuable Player Award, will Jon Gruden be excoriated for initiating the worst NFL trade since the Herschel Walker deal? Will we all finally admit that Mark Davis is cash-poor and sometimes money concerns outweigh, likesay, putting together a proper football team? Are you kidding?

• Washington 16 at Jacksonville Jaguars 5½
• Tennessee Titans 14½ at New York Giants 0
• Atlanta Falcons 30, Arizona Cardinals 14
• Detroit Lions 13 at Buffalo Bills 10½. Unless the word “under” is involved, NFLbets can’t imagine wagering again on any of these teams and we’re already looking forward to betting heavily against all of ’em except Buffalo in 2019…

• San Francisco 49ers 26, Seattle Seahawks 19½. “Jimmy Who?” –no 49ers fan in 2018.

• Indianapolis Colts 20, Dallas Cowboys 0
• Minnesota Vikings 33½, Miami Dolphins 17. NFLbets hopes the Seahawks continue their swoon and the Vikings leapfrog for the no. 5 seed. This sets up an easy path to going 5-0 in betting the NFC playoffs: We’ll be taking the Vikings and Bears in the wild-card games and the semi-finals (that’s right, the Saints and Rams are going down) before Minnesota fans’ hopes are again blitheringly crushed, this time by a hated divisional rival. Sorry, dudes, but you know that’s coming…

• Cleveland Browns 17 at Denver Broncos 13½. You know how in every NFL season there’s that one team that heats up in the second half, ends the season on a high and becomes everyone’s vogue pick for surprise winner of the division? In 2018, that’s the Browns. NFLbets is tempering expectations for Cleveland in ’19, however, depending on whether Gregg Williams (sub-.400 as a head coach, but 3-2 with Cleveland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!1!) gets that “interim” knocked off his current title.

• New York Jets 22, Houston Texans 22. Meanwhile, the 2018 Houston Texans are looking a lot like the 2017 Jacksonville Jaguars: A young franchise not taken seriously until we wake up and they’re a couple of plays short of winning the AFC Championship Game. All Houston fans have to hope is that DeShaun Watson doesn’t Bortlify himself, which doesn’t seem very likely.

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers 12 at Baltimore Ravens 11½. And speaking of flying under the radar, how about those Ravens, a lock for the playoffs for about 10 weeks now…?

• Pittsburgh Steelers 17, New England Patriots 7½. To all those throwing dirt on the Belichick/Brady Era’s grave: Don’t let NFLbets catch you betting the Patriots giving points in a wild-card game against the Ravens or Colts. Also, you’ll probably definitely want to take the Chargers plus the points in Pittsburgh.

• Philadelphia Eagles 30 at Los Angeles Rams 9½. Hmmm, guess this may not be the Rams’ year after all. Perhaps that contract for Ndamokung Suh might be better invested in, likesay, two or three guys in 2019…

• Carolina Panthers 9 at New Orleans Saints 6. As it turns out, the Saints have a pretty good defense, too. Damn it.

For an updated version of the NFL standings by ATS record, click here.