Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers have been one of the most popular teams all season, particularly to sports gamblers who love the NFL. They were Super Bowl preseason favorites. Their lines have been pretty strong compared to many other of the perennial NFL contenders. Even when they struggled to meet those expectations and were only the sixth seed in a not so particularly strong conference, they were always considered a team that was better than their record.
Why are the Packers given such favorable lines? One has to think about how popular a team they are, being publicly owned, having been modestly successful since the early Brett Favre days, having fun and powerful high-octane offenses even when transitioning from Favre to Rodgers ... there are a lot of things to like about this team, especially as they keep on winning.
So it's not too surprising that when the Vegas opening line was released, the Packers are favored to win Super Bowl XLV by 2.5 to 3 points in almost all sportsbooks over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Although it was a little bit more surprising that Green Bay was giving the edge against a bitter division rival in Chicago when playing the Bears in the NFC Championship Game, the fact that the most public team in the NFL this season is getting the early edge shouldn't be too surprising. Although this narrow a margin probably means it's the closest thing to tossup you'll find (most Super Bowl lines are seven points as higher). Hopefully for sports fans, this bodes well for a very close game.
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