The NFL season is in the books and what a season it was. There was plenty of drama across the Week 18 slate, and the NFL postseason gets underway with a 6-pack of games for us to enjoy, starting with a pair of games on Saturday in the wide open NFC. I have come within just 1 leg of cashing a couple of massive mega parlays in recent weeks, so there’s no time like the present to get to the window with a winner this week!
With the Wild Card Weekend slate on the horizon, let’s get right into my NFL mega parlay that pays out at nearly 28/1 odds at FanDuel Sportsbook. Be sure to also check out all of our NFL Wild Card coverage throughout the weekend.
Jaguars 1st Half ML (+100)
Packers -1.5 (-114)
49ers vs Eagles under 44.5 (-115)
Chargers +3.5 (-110)
Steelers +3 (-115)
Rams ML (-650)
NFL Wild Card parlay odds: +2790
Jacksonville Jaguars 1st Half ML over Buffalo Bills (+100)
To start off our mega parlay, let’s take the Jaguars on the first half money line on Sunday, While I do lean toward backing Jacksonville in the full game, I’d rather stick with the first half since it pits one excellent first half team against a team that has struggled all season long in the opening portion of the game. Liam Coen is one of the best coaches in football in the scripted portion of the game, so we can expect the Jaguars to race out to an early lead at home. Furthermore, due to the Bills’ style of play, they will likely chew up a considerable amount of clock, regardless of if they finish drives with touchdowns or not. Josh Allen and this offense have been elite in the second half all season, but Buffalo’s metrics are a lot weaker in the first half, so I’ll back the hosts to lead at the break.
Don’t miss our full Bills vs Jaguars prediction
Green Bay Packers -1.5 over Chicago Bears (-114)
Even though the Bears ended the season with a division title, I lean toward backing Green Bay against a Chicago team that has been unsustainably good in fourth quarters this season. In fact, the Bears have picked up 6 wins this season when trailing with 2 minutes remaining in the game. It’s also worth mentioning that Chicago has played a fairly easy schedule, and rookie quarterback Caleb Williams has also been at his best against weaker defenses, which he won’t see in this matchup against a stout Packers defense. Conversely, Jordan Love and the Packers offense should relish an opportunity to take on a Bears defense that ranks 23rd in EPA per play and 26th in success rate allowed on the year. It’s hard for me to look anywhere but Green Bay in this spot.
Check out our full Packers vs Bears prediction
San Francisco 49ers vs Philadelphia Eagles Under 44.5 (-115)
For our next leg of this parlay, let’s head to Philadelphia and take the under in this game between the 49ers and Eagles. This matchup has all of the makings of a lower-scoring affair, and it all starts with the Eagles offense. Philadelphia has simply not been able to score on playoff teams all season, and even if the Eagles jump out to an early lead in this game, they can be expected to run an extremely vanilla offense in the second half and just look to get out of dodge with a victory. One thing we don’t have to worry about is the Philadelphia defense, as Vic Fangio’s unit is one of the best in football and should give Brock Purdy and company plenty of problems on Sunday.
Los Angeles Chargers +3.5 vs New England Patriots (-110)
Our next leg in this parlay takes us to New England, where I’ll be taking the points with the Chargers in this AFC showdown. Los Angeles has certainly been a team of heartbreak in the postseason, but that is bound to change at some point, and it could happen against a Patriots team that is fairly inexperienced on this stage. Drake Maye has certainly looked the part to this point in his young career, but it’s not a guarantee that he’ll continue his stellar run of form against a Chargers pass defense that is one of the better units in the league and is capable of forcing turnovers. It remains to be seen if this is finally the year for Justin Herbert to get the postseason monkey off his back, but I’ll grab the points and look for a close game on Sunday.
Get our expert’s full Chargers vs Patriots prediction
Pittsburgh Steelers +3 vs Houston Texans (-115)
For the only game taking place on Monday Night Football this weekend, I’ll keep the underdog train rolling with a wager on the Steelers. Pittsburgh’s offense struggled for most of the season, but the Steelers are playing their best football at the right time, and we saw Aaron Rodgers at his best in a victory over the Ravens a week ago. The Texans defense is certainly a formidable unit, but if Pittsburgh can just give Rodgers enough time to get the ball out quickly, there’s no reason why they couldn’t see success at home in a vintage Mike Tomlin underdog spot. The struggling Texans offense makes it tough to lay points on the road with Houston, so Pittsburgh is the only way I can look in this one.
Don’t miss our expert’s full Texans vs Steelers prediction
Los Angeles Rams ML over Carolina Panthers (-650)
To close out our mega parlay, I’ll be tacking on the Rams to defeat the Panthers as an anchor leg. Yes, Carolina knocked off Los Angeles earlier this season, but that was a massive statistical outlier of a game, as Los Angeles turned the ball over 3 times — including a very rate pick-6 from Matthew Stafford — in the defeat. This time around, we can expect Sean McVay’s team to show up focused and eager to put that previous defeat behind them with a convincing victory. Carolina is overmatched on both sides of the ball and despite the fact that Bryce Young had one of his best games of the season against Los Angeles back on November 30, its hard to trust the Alabama product in what will be his first career postseason start.
Click here to add us to your Google preferred sources and never miss a story
