The Vig: Winners and losers from Week 13 of the 2018 NFL season

Week 13 is just about a wrap, and that brings an NFC East showdown on Monday Night Football. Washington and Philadelphia are hoping to maintain pace with Dallas, who opened the week with a huge win over the New Orleans Saints.

Every week will bring its share of wild games, unexpected results, and plenty of money changing hands. Sports gambling is not new, but the Supreme Court’s decision allowing states to legalize it opens the door for a huge expansion. And so, it’s time to keep an eye on the important news, the gut-wrenching news, the quirky news, and how we can best help you make a few bucks each week. Welcome to The Vig!

The Rams beat the Lions in Week 13, which allowed them to clinch the NFC West. Los Angeles entered the season as huge favorites to win the division, with their pre-Week 1 odds set at an overwhelming 10/17 and their odds of simply making the playoffs installed at 5/11. The Rams got a huge break as well this week with the Saints loss to the Cowboys. New Orleans has the head-to-head tiebreaker against the Rams, but the loss drops them a game back in the race for home field advantage in the NFC.

The Browns got the coach firing season going when they canned Hue Jackson after a Week 8 loss to the Steelers. The Packers joined the Browns by dismissing Mike McCarthy following a Week 13 loss to the Cardinals. It seemed inevitable, but was still a bit of a surprise in going down during the season.

After the Browns fired Jackson, Bovada installed odds for the next head coach to “leave their post.” Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter was the favorite at 9/4, with McCarthy installed at 10/1. Things went south in a hurry for the Packers, and three straight losses were enough to call it for McCarthy.

Speaking of coaching hot seats, the Bengals lost their fourth straight on Sunday, a 24-10 home loss to the Broncos. Marvin Lewis has survived for years now without much in the way of playoff success, but one has to wonder if this might be it. He brought in Hue Jackson as an assistant, and you can now get odds on Jackson taking over for Lewis after this season. Bovada has installed him at +170 to be the Bengals head coach Week 1 of next season, and -250 to not be their head coach.

Jacksonville snapped a seven-game losing streak with a much-needed win over the Indianapolis Colts. The win came a few days after they fired offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and benched quarterback Blake Bortles. The offense only got worse, with the Jaguars beating Indianapolis 6-0. Bovada offered a team point total of 21.5 and team yardage total of 345.5 for the game. The Jaguars did not come close to either (211 yards of offense).

Drew Brees has cruised into heavily favored MVP status over the past month, and entered Week 13 as a 1/5 favorite. He and the Saints offense as a whole struggled in Dallas on Thursday Night Football, with Brees throwing for 127 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in a 13-10 loss. In comparison, Patrick Mahomes, sitting at 4/1 odds for MVP entering the week, threw for 295 yards and four touchdowns in a 40-33 win over the Raiders.

Brees is likely to put up good enough numbers to secure the award by the end of the season, but Mahomes now might have some decent value. His odds will come down after that performance, but even at 3/1, it might be worth a modest wager this week. The Saints face a tough schedule the rest of way, with two games against Carolina and a home game against Pittsburgh. Mahomes has tough matchups against the Ravens and Seahawks, but could put up some big numbers against a shaky Chargers defense and that awful Raiders defense.

Week 13 brought in three more win total bets cashing in. The Texans improved to 9-3, and their nine-game win streak put them over their 8.5 win total. The Rams clinched the NFC West, and in turn got over ten wins. The Falcons lost to the Ravens, guaranteeing they will not surpass nine wins this season.

Overs to date: Chiefs, Bears, Saints, Texans, Rams

Unders to date: 49ers, Raiders, Packers, Jaguars, Falcons

Washington @ Philadelphia Eagles (-6): Dallas has a half game lead on Washington and a game-and-a-half lead on Philadelphia in the NFC East. Both teams badly need this win, but Philadelphia needs it in particular having lost at home to Dallas and potentially dropping two games back with four weeks remaining. Washington is rolling out Colt McCoy again coming off a tough Week 12 loss, and that coupled with the Eagles win over the Giants has the public siding with Philadelphia. I’m going to take the points, even with Washington traveling to Philly.

The first lines for Week 14 have arrived by way of OddsShark, and there are some lines of note. The biggest line of the week is a bit of a surprise. The Bengals were playoff contenders as recently as a few weeks ago, but the loss of Andy Dalton has sent them into a tailspin, and they are now 14.5 point underdogs to the surging Chargers.

The biggest game of the week is a potential playoff preview between the Rams and Bears. Chicago is hoping to have Mitchell Trubisky back, but we’ll wait for practice reports. For now, the Bears are a 3.5-point underdog on Sunday Night Football.

Jacksonville Jaguars @ Tennessee Titans (-4.5)
Baltimore Ravens @ Kansas City Chiefs (-7.5)
Indianapolis Colts @ Houston Texans (-4.5)
Atlanta Falcons @ Green Bay Packers (-6)
New York Jets @ Buffalo Bills (-3.5)
New York Giants @ Washington (-1.5)
New Orleans Saints @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+8)
New England Patriots @ Miami Dolphins (+8)
Carolina Panthers @ Cleveland Browns (+1)
Denver Broncos @ San Francisco 49ers (+5.5)
Cincinnati Bengals @ Los Angeles Chargers (-14.5)
Detroit Lions @ Arizona Cardinals (+2.5)
Philadelphia Eagles @ Dallas Cowboys (-4)
Pittsburgh Steelers @ Oakland Raiders (+11.5)
Los Angeles Rams @ Chicago Bears (+3.5)
Minnesota Vikings @ Seattle Seahawks (-3)