We are over one-fourth of the way through the 2026 NFL season, and it's going by fast. What have we learned through the first five weeks? Well, the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks are still pretty good, and the Kansas City Chiefs have reinvented themselves offensively with Kenneth Walker III.
Those are three obvious Super Bowl favorites, but which teams offer some value? Let's examine the "second tier" of Super Bowl contenders. For this exercise, we will eliminate the top six favorites to hoist the Lombardi trophy over at DraftKings Sportsbook.
That includes the Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks. Now, we are left with teams that have odds of at least +1200. Below, we will examine the Super Bowl odds for seven teams that should make the playoffs, but could also be considered legitimate sleepers.
The Detroit Lions actually have the second-shortest odds to win the NFC North right now, so do with that what you will. Dan Campbell just registered his first road win of the season on Sunday, as Detroit dominated the Arizona Cardinals, 45-21. However, beating up on a bad team doesn't exactly quell all concerns.
The Lions may lead the NFL in sacks (20), but they still rank dead last in total defense, allowing 404.4 total yards per game. Even with the 21 points allowed on Sunday, Detroit still ranks bottom four in scoring defense with 29.6 points allowed per game. This Lions team is unfortunately reminiscent of recent Lions teams.
Jared Goff commands a lethal offense headlined by Jahmyr Gibbs and Amon-Ra St. Brown, but it's hard to believe Kelvin Sheppard's defense has the ability to support a legitimate contender. With that said, Sunday's performance against Arizona was good.
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