The Problem with Power Rankings

[jason]

All those Power Rankings we see, where the Bears are 26th in the league are bogus in my opinion. I have always thought that. If not for injuries last year, the Bears would have won a few more games, and would have been in the running for a wild card spot. And that's WITH NO OFFENSE. This year, the Bears have improved in many ways, not the least of which is concerning health.

 

With all that said, I think I trust Vegas a bit more than I trust the talking head idiots at the major sports websites and papers.

 

Bears not so bad?

 

Vegas doesn't make money year after year by being bad or stupid doing this sort of thing. You can find similar rankings at all the Vegas sites, but I just thought it was interesting that the word in Vegas is that the Bears are one of the better teams in the NFC.

[KiLoc69]

All those Power Rankings we see, where the Bears are 26th in the league are bogus in my opinion. I have always thought that. If not for injuries last year, the Bears would have won a few more games, and would have been in the running for a wild card spot. And that's WITH NO OFFENSE. This year, the Bears have improved in many ways, not the least of which is concerning health.

 

With all that said, I think I trust Vegas a bit more than I trust the talking head idiots at the major sports websites and papers.

 

Bears not so bad?

 

Vegas doesn't make money year after year by being bad or stupid doing this sort of thing. You can find similar rankings at all the Vegas sites, but I just thought it was interesting that the word in Vegas is that the Bears are one of the better teams in the NFC.

 

I don't think that's how Vegas does it. It's not just a straight ranking from best team to worst team. I read somewhere that they factor in a myriad of things like which odds will get the most bets for each team.

[DrunkBomber]

I don't think that's how Vegas does it. It's not just a straight ranking from best team to worst team. I read somewhere that they factor in a myriad of things like which odds will get the most bets for each team.

Exactly, they base it on what will make them the most money. Theres a reason why even when the Cubs were terrible their odds were still high to win the World Series. They use betting trends to account for a lot of the lines.

[bradjock]

All those Power Rankings we see, where the Bears are 26th in the league are bogus in my opinion. I have always thought that. If not for injuries last year, the Bears would have won a few more games, and would have been in the running for a wild card spot. And that's WITH NO OFFENSE. This year, the Bears have improved in many ways, not the least of which is concerning health.

 

With all that said, I think I trust Vegas a bit more than I trust the talking head idiots at the major sports websites and papers.

 

Bears not so bad?

 

Vegas doesn't make money year after year by being bad or stupid doing this sort of thing. You can find similar rankings at all the Vegas sites, but I just thought it was interesting that the word in Vegas is that the Bears are one of the better teams in the NFC.

 

That is interesting. But just remember that we started at 25/1 & now we're 18/1, all that means is that a lot of Chicago fans are betting so the numbers have increased. Not to mention, with Favre gone, after the Cowboys the NFC is wide open. There's no true #2 favorite.

 

I'll bet last year at this time the Bears were sitting at 10/1 like the Giants are. I personally think the Giants have a snow-ball's chance in hell of going back. But because they were just there . . .

 

I'm guessing the Chicago number wouldn't be that high if we hadn't just made it 2 seasons ago.

 

Talk is cheap. Words are plentiful. Sports predictions are mainly based on what you did last season and what you did in the off-season.