2005 Green Bay Packers NFL Handicapping Review Part 2

 

By Tom Wilkinson

 

The 2004 Green Bay Packers epitomized the difficulty in sports handicapping pro football picks against the sports betting odds. For “reactive” sports handicappers, this team was a NIGHTMARE.

Green Bay opened the 2004 campaign with high hopes of making it at least to the NFC championship game, if not the super bowl, as they kept being reminded that all that stopped them from a shot at the NFC title in 2003 was their failure to stop a 4th and 26 play at Philadelphia in the waning moments of their playoff game.

The Pack appeared on track with a nice 24-14 Monday Night win at defending NFC champion Carolina as 3-point dogs to start the season. So far so good, or so it appeared as Green Bay prepared for their home opener against lightly regarded Chicago, who was coming off an opening day home loss to Detroit. The Pack was installed as 8.5-point favorites and got considerable play, and many boastful blogs for online sports betting players and Packer backers. Unfortunately Chicago stunned Green Bay 10-21.

While most members of the sports handicapping community wrote the Chicago defeat off as “one of those things” that can happen on “any given Sunday” the Packers lost at Indianapolis in a most ugly way (31-45) and then again at home to the Giants (7-14).

All of a sudden Green Bay stood at 1-3 both straight up and against the sports betting odds as they prepared to host an equally desperate Tennessee team on Monday Night Football. Conventional wisdom was that Green Bay would pull out all of the stops with a maximum effort to stop the bleeding with the nation watching, not to mention the Lambeau Field crowd. Green Bay got a solid majority of the online sports betting wagers as well as the sportsbook bets but disgraced themselves in a 27-48 shocker that made for a nice profit for the sports betting odds makers.

Green Bay was now 1-4 both straight up and against the sports betting odds and their defense was being torn to pieces both on the field and at online sports betting blogs. The Pack now had to prepare to face the upstart Detroit Lions who were off to a nice 3-1 start and installed as 2.5-point favorites. Online sports betting blogs were plastered with “locks” on the Lions. Once again, it the sports betting public was all moving in mass.