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NFL Week 14 Odds, Picks & Predictions: Best Futures Bets (2023)

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I'm keeping it pretty straightforward with my future recommendations this week, going with division futures across the board. The first two are plays on two teams currently in second place in their respective divisions, the Texans and the Cowboys. Houston was just gifted a shot at the division after the disastrous Monday Night Football game in Jacksonville, and Dallas has a huge home matchup against the current division-leading Eagles on Sunday night.

If things break right, I can see both of these teams holding their division crown at the end of the season. The last play is a much longer shot on the Packers to make up ground and surpass the Lions in the NFC North, based on how both teams have been playing lately and the huge disparity in their respective remaining strength of schedules.

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NFL Week 14: Best Futures Bets

Houston Texans to win the AFC South (+400 @ BetMGM)

Monday Night Football could not have been worse for the Jaguars, who entered the game with a chance to take hold of the top spot in the AFC and instead lost to a Bengals team with their second-string QB and saw both Trevor Lawrence and Christian Kirk exit the game prematurely due to injury. They now hold the fourth seed in the conference and are just one game clear of both the Colts and Texans, who are tied at 7-5.

I find the Texans to be a slightly better angle for this future due to the fact that they split their season series against the Jaguars, while the Colts lost both matchups. The Texans also have a far easier remaining strength of schedule than the Colts, having just two games left against teams at or above 0.500 compared to four such games for Indy.

Jacksonville has no walk in the park either, with back-to-back upcoming games against two of the best defenses in the NFL in Cleveland and Baltimore. The Jags could easily drop both of those games even if Lawrence suits up, and if he misses extended time, they would also be susceptible to losing to teams like Tampa Bay and Tennessee in the following weeks.

With the uncertainty surrounding Lawrence and the Jaguars after last night's loss, I think this is a fantastic price to jump on the Texans to steal the division. If you favor the Colts over the Texans, the same logic applies and you can find their odds at a slightly juicier number.

Dallas Cowboys to win the NFC East (+400 @ BetMGM)

After the drubbing that the Eagles took against the 49ers on Sunday, the red-hot Cowboys sit just one game behind them in the NFC East standings with a pivotal head-to-head matchup coming this Sunday night in Dallas. The Cowboys are absolutely rolling right now, winning four consecutive games and putting up 33+ points in five out of their last six. The only game that fell under that point total was their 28-23 loss in Philly in a game that Dallas led at the half.

It's not a stretch to say that the Cowboys have been the better team this season, with an NFL-leading point differential of +168 that's more than four times greater than the +41 point differential of the Eagles. They also have the NFL's leading offense in terms of points per possession, and their fourth-ranked scoring defense is far superior to that of the 24th-ranked Eagles.

The crux of this future, and why the odds are longer than a one-game deficit in the division should be, is that Philadelphia's remaining schedule is decisively easier than that of Dallas. After this Sunday's game, the Eagles’ remaining schedule includes the Seahawks, Giants twice, and Cardinals, while the Cowboys still have matchups against the Bills, Dolphins, Lions and Commanders.

Holes can be poked in those teams, though, as the Bills are currently outside the playoff picture, the Dolphins have yet to beat a team with a winning record, and the Lions are prone to giving up a ton of points to just about anybody. At this price, I'll take a shot on Dallas to stay hot and surpass this Eagles team for the division lead by the end of the season.

Green Bay Packers to win the NFC North (+2000 @ FanDuel)

Enough of these +400 plays. Let's talk about a real long shot. The Packers currently trail the Lions by three games in the division, but they have been playing much better of late, picking up wins in four of their last five games after a pretty bleak 2-5 start to the season. Jordan Love has found a real connection with all of their young WRs and has people actually mentioning him in the same sentence as Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers.

Their defense has really stepped it up, too, allowing 24 points or fewer in every game since Week 4 against teams that include the Chargers, Chiefs, Rams and Lions. The opposite can be said of the Lions’ defense, which has allowed 26+ points in five out of their previous six games. Though it will be a tall task to catch up to the Lions, the Packers have the easiest remaining schedule in the NFL by opposing winning percentage, with their remaining games coming against the Giants, Buccaneers, Panthers, Vikings and Bears.

Meanwhile, the Lions have games against the Cowboys, Vikings twice, Broncos and Bears. It would take Green Bay racking up three more wins than Detroit in that stretch to catch up, but crazier things have happened, and Detroit's defense is capable of giving up big point totals to anyone. At these crazy long odds, I feel like Green Bay deserves a sprinkle on the NFC North division future with how well they've been playing down the stretch.

Make sure to check out our other best bets for Wednesday:

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