NFL Week 17:

With only two weeks left in the NFL regular season, oddsmakers and bettors have a lot to think about aside from who is playing in the game and who is injured. The playoff picture is pretty tight in both conferences from a seeding standpoint, so that should keep teams from sitting players en masse, but you never quite know unless a coach tells you.

Then there are the bad teams and many of them were very bad in Week 16. So, now that we’re in Week 17, we have to consider the teams that aren’t playing for anything but pride and whether or not they will show up or just roll over. As a result, we’ve seen some big adjustments from the lookahead lines as we enter the penultimate week of the 2024-25 regular season.

 

***Top NFL Resources***

*Join thousands of other sports bettors and unlock access to picks, public betting splits data, & the VSiN live video broadcast by upgrading to VSiN Pro. Grab your first month for less than $10.*

Here is the Week 17 NFL Odds Report:

Kansas City Chiefs (-2, 42.5) at Pittsburgh Steelers

Wednesday, 1 p.m. ET

We have Christmas Day football to think about this week, as the teams that played on Saturday in Week 16 will play on Sunday in Week 17. That means that the Chiefs and Steelers are paired together, with a flipped favorite situation. The Steelers were actually -1.5, but some of that had to do with questions about the health of Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes played against the Texans and looked like a guy who wasn’t really dealing with anything, so now the Chiefs are a clear road favorite. His health also bumped the total from 41 to as high as 43.

Baltimore Ravens (-4, 47) at Houston Texans

Wednesday, 4:30 p.m. ET

The Ravens and Texans also played on Saturday, as Houston endured a very emotional loss to the Chiefs in which Tank Dell suffered a gruesome knee injury. That isn’t the only reason why this line went from an opener of -2 at DraftKings out to -4. The Texans continued to look pretty mediocre and have issues protecting CJ Stroud, who has clearly been rattled by the ongoing harassment in his sophomore season.

The Ravens and Steelers have identical 10-5 records and 1-1 records against each other, so Baltimore will get a bit of a jolt going into this game regardless of whether or not Pittsburgh wins.

Seattle Seahawks (-3.5, 42.5) at Chicago Bears

Thursday, 8:15 p.m. ET

This week is anything but traditional in the NFL, but Thursday Night Football is in its regular time slot and gives us a feeling of normalcy. The Seahawks are traveling two-thirds of the way across the country, yet find themselves a clear favorite at Soldier Field. Chicago competed for a while against Detroit, but got doubled up in a 34-17 loss. The Seahawks hosted the Vikings and lost, falling a full game and currently a tiebreaker behind the Rams. This line opened as low as -1 at DraftKings, but the adjusted number shows a distinct lack of faith in Da Bears.

Los Angeles Chargers (-5.5, 43) at New England Patriots

Saturday, 1 p.m. ET

The Chargers are traveling across the country here, but they did play on Thursday last week, so we don’t really have a short-week vibe in this one. The Patriots had a really strong effort against the Bills and the Chargers and so I think that gave bettors hope that Jerod Mayo’s team is still invested in the campaign. DraftKings had the low number in the market as of Sunday night at -4.5, with the rest of the market about where the lookahead line was situated.

Denver Broncos at Cincinnati Bengals (-3, 48.5)

Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET

The Bengals kept their incredibly slim playoff hopes alive by beating the Browns, while the Broncos suffered a mild setback against the Chargers. If Denver wins this game, they are in the postseason, as Cincinnati, Miami, and Indianapolis are the only teams that can catch them, but they are all two games back in the standings. Cincinnati has no margin for error and we’ve seen a ton of market respect for them all season long because of how Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase have played. Superbook opened 3.5 on the lookahead line. DraftKings opened 3. So, we’ve basically seen no adjustment on the side, but the total has inched up a tad.

Arizona Cardinals at Los Angeles Rams (-5.5, 49)

Saturday, 8:15 p.m. ET

Here’s a game with a notable adjustment. The Rams are out to -5.5 after opening -3 in the lookahead markets. The Cardinals lost to the Panthers, which is a big no-no at this time of the season given the standings. Arizona’s loss eliminated them from playoff contention, whereas the Rams lead the NFC West and have every reason to be all-in for this game. I’m very curious to see how bettors treat this game.

Indianapolis Colts (-7.5, 40) at New York Giants

Sunday, 1 p.m. ET

We head to Sunday with the Colts laying over a tuddy against the Giants. New York scored first against Atlanta and then gave up 34 unanswered points to drop their 10th straight game. The Colts kept their slim playoff hopes alive by outlasting the Titans in a high-scoring affair. Indy hasn’t won consecutive games since Weeks 6 and 7, so I’ll be very intrigued to see if bettors are willing to trust them here against a Giants team that is already on the beach in Cancun. This line was under a TD coming into the week, but no longer is.

Tennessee Titans at Jacksonville Jaguars (-1, 39.5)

Sunday, 1 p.m. ET

The Jaguars did not have a fun trip to Las Vegas, as the Raiders ended their 10-game losing streak with a 19-14 win. This has been a season from hell for Jacksonville with Trevor Lawrence sidelined and a lame-duck head coach in Doug Pederson for most of the year. The Titans have dealt with a ton of injuries that have not helped things at all, but the most important position on the field has been a black hole for them all year long. This is a pretty brutal handicap, but it is worth noting that this line would suggest Tennessee might be a favorite on a neutral, as the Jags don’t have much of a home-field advantage, but I would think it’s at least 1.5 or even two points. Several books have this one lined at pick ‘em and Circa even had the Titans favored on Sunday night.

New York Jets at Buffalo Bills (-10, 46.5)

Sunday, 1 p.m. ET

The Bills started slow against the Patriots, but found a way to win and keep pace with the Chiefs in the quest for the No. 1 seed. But, this is a really tough game to handicap this early in the week. If KC wins on Wednesday, the Chiefs will be the No. 1 seed. Buffalo is two games ahead of the Steelers and Ravens, who also play on Wednesday. Josh Allen is playing with a broken left hand. While he is going to win the MVP, you have to think a severely tortured franchise like the Bills wants to be in tip-top shape for the postseason. Could we only see Allen for a half? A quarter? A run-heavy gameplan in hopes of protecting him? A lot of moving parts here.

Carolina Panthers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-7.5, 48.5)

Sunday, 1 p.m. ET

With a loss to the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football, the Buccaneers no longer control their own destiny in the NFC South. With two head-to-head losses against the Falcons, the situation isn’t dire, but it will not be dictated by what they do. So, last week was a big setback, while the Panthers had a nice win and Bryce Young looked pretty good again. Dave Canales’ Panthers took his former employer to overtime earlier this season and would have won in regulation if not for a game-tying 51-yard kick from Chase McLaughlin. I betcha we see this number come down a little bit. It already has from the lookahead number of 8.5.

Miami Dolphins (-6.5, 40.5) at Cleveland Browns

Sunday, 4:05 p.m. ET

Credit to the Browns for giving Cincinnati something of a game in the second half after going into intermission with zero passing yards. This sure does feel like a big number for the Dolphins with Tua Tagovailoa going up to Cleveland. Miami may catch a break because the weather doesn’t look too bad for December 29 along the shores of Lake Erie. This line was -3 at open in the lookahead market, but Dorian Thompson-Robinson looked bad and the Browns feel like a team strategically tanking to their best of their abilities.

Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles (OTB)

Sunday, 4:25 p.m. ET

This game was off the board most everywhere on Sunday night with the Jalen Hurts injury. The Eagles QB suffered a concussion against the Commanders and Kenny Pickett did not play well. Philly lost 36-33 to Washington and we’ll have to wait and see how Hurts progresses through the protocol.

Atlanta Falcons at Washington Commanders (-4.5, 46.5)

Sunday, 8:20 p.m. ET

The Commanders scored that big win over Philly and that led to a bit of a bump in the betting markets in anticipation of the game against the Falcons. The lookahead line was -3.5 from Superbook and now we’re staring at 4.5 or 5. DraftKings did open -5 on the Washington side, as the Falcons have not been getting the benefit of the doubt from bettors or oddsmakers for a while now. But, the Falcons did what they needed to do against the Giants in Michael Penix Jr.’s first start, so I think we could see some underdog love here.

Detroit Lions (-3.5, 51.5) at San Francisco 49ers

Monday, 8:15 p.m. ET

The Lions head outside and head west to take on the 49ers this week. San Francisco looked rather disinterested against the Dolphins and I think we could see that in the next two games as well. This is a team that has played a ton of football in recent years because of their playoff runs and the injuries have mounted at such a rapid rate this season. This one was -2.5 from Superbook and -3 from DraftKings, who was sitting at -4 on Sunday night compared to the rest of the market at -3.5.

Bookmark the NFL Week 17 Hub to get all of this week’s NFL betting content!

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR