Some might say that betting on futures for an NFL season that might not even happen is a fool’s errand. Others might say assessing teams before free agency even takes place is a waste of time.

These people just aren’t any fun.

The sports calendar is moving into its worst stretch as the NBA and NHL finals are wrapping up and MLB is settling into its dull, predictable mid-season. So why not make the off-season bearable by wasting a bit of money on Super Bowl long shot bets?

Here’s a few teams that could be worth your money, and a few sucker bets to avoid. All odds are from VegasInsider.com, current as of June 9, 2011.

Smart money – Chicago Bears (15-1)

It’s tough to say something nice about a team with Jay Cutler behind centre, but the fact remains that this is a fairly young team that advanced (with a little luck) to the NFC Championship Game, losing by only one score to the eventual Super Bowl-winning Packers despite third-string quarterback Caleb Hanie taking over in the third quarter.

First-round pick Gabe Carimi should help Matt Forte return to his rookie form, when he rushed over 1,200 years, and the defence should be tough again.

They’ll have a tough time winning the NFC North crown with the Packers around, but a Wild Card is definitely possible, and strong defence can really bolster a playoff run.

Sucker bet – Dallas Cowboys (10-1)

“America’s Team” is a sucker bet every year. Their irritating, inexplicable, and unfailing popularity makes them the ultimate “public” team, drawing plenty of attention in Vegas from uninformed fans who don’t know any better.

They were a terrible team in 2010; they’ll be an OK team in 2011. They should be Lombardi long shots. Avoid at all costs.

Smart money – Philadelphia Eagles (12-1)

The Eagles had a thrilling 2010 season, as Michael Vick emerged as the top story in NFL news with his incredible comeback season. This is now his team from Day 1, so Philly shouldn’t have to deal with the tumult of a quarterback change again. A Kevin Kolb trade should reap rewards that will only make them better, and the NFC East doesn’t look particularly challenging in 2011. This could be the year Andy Reid gets over the hump.

Smart money – St. Louis Rams (50-1)

With 2010 Offensive Rookie of the Year Sam Bradford under centre, the Rams were a markedly improved team last season, narrowly missing the playoffs at 7-9. They play in the worst division in the NFL, if not in all of professional sports, and have to be considered the favourites to finish atop with the division title. If Bradford can take his game up a notch or two in his sophomore season, the Rams could have a miracle run in them. At 50-1, it’d certainly be a fun ride while it lasted.

Sucker bet – San Diego Chargers (9-1)

Take this from someone who’s followed this team closely since 2002: they will get your hopes up every offseason then break your heart time and again. Until Norv Turner is run out of town, or these odds creep up into the 18-1 or 20-1 range, stay away.

Even online Belmont betting players will be watching the NFL lockout situation as the football season is being threatened, but teams are also waiting to start making moves to improve their team on the free-agent market, and the biggest fish out there may be cornerback Nmandi Asomugha, who likely won’t be resigned by Oakland.Here are the top three places where he should land.

Philadelphia – The Eagles need someone opposite Asante Samuel, who would have a chance to reach double figures in interceptions with Asomugha on the other side. Philadelphia also needs some secondary help in the NFC East, which features such quarterbacks as New York’s Eli Manning and Dallas’ Tony Romo.

Houston – The Texans aren’t going to come out of the AFC South until they figure out a way to slow down Indianapolis’ Peyton Manning, and they have a decent pass rush; it’s just that their secondary is atrocious. The Texas were dead last in the NFL against the pass, and they should be the first or second in line to make an offer to Asomugha when the lockout ends.

Washington – The Redskins are also in the NFC East, but they’re the only team in the league without a decent quarterback as they’ll probably get rid of Donovan McNabb. That means they may need Asomugha more than anyone else in the division because they don’t figure to score a lot of points, so improving their defense is the best way to boost their odds at your favorite betting website.

The NFL’s top two passing teams will battle for aerial supremacy on Sunday in Indianapolis, when Peyton Manning’s Colts play host to Philip Rivers and the resurgent San Diego Chargers. The Chargers are in the midst of a three-game winning streak after starting out the season just 2-5, and are hoping

to continue the trend against a Colts team that has been rendered inconsistent and unpredictable thanks to a plethora of early-season injuries.

San Diego looked like it was close to collapse early on in the season, as the team dealt with drama in the locker room and poor chemistry on the playing field. The Chargers slipped in the NFL standings before picking up wins in weeks eight and nine. The Chargers collected win number five over Denver last week in prime time, and have a realistic shot at challenging the struggling Colts on Sunday.

The Colts have struggled with their NFL schedule coming out of Bye Week, picking up wins against Houston and Cincinnati, but losing close contests to the red-hot Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots.

In Indy’s most recent loss to the Patriots, Manning made a series of uncharacteristically poor decisions down the stretch, tossing a pick with less than a minute to go with his team down three and within field-goal range. The superstar quarterback finished the game with four scores, but his three interceptions suggest that the Colts’ offence is not clicking as smoothly as planned. Against the Chargers, Manning will need to be extra careful with his passing-San Diego is first in the league in limiting their opponents’ passing yards, allowing just 184 yards per game.

Interestingly enough, the Chargers are also the best passing team in the NFL, averaging just over 306 yards per game in the air. Rivers has been statistically spectacular this season with 23 touchdowns and 3,177 passing yards, and is a frontrunner for league MVP honors-a case that will be significantly strengthened if the Chargers continue to post winning football scores. Rivers has been highly efficient as well, with only nine interceptions so far. However, Indianapolis has typically looked to shut down the air against good passing teams, leaving them vulnerable to the ground attack.

San Diego running back Mike Tolbert took advantage of the absence of Ryan Mathews on Monday night to run for over 100 yards and a touchdown against the

Broncos. Look for Tolbert to again rack up big minutes against a Colts defence that ranks dead last in the league at stopping the run.

Indianapolis running back Joseph Addai is still sidelined by injury, so the Colts will have little choice but to rely on Manning’s creativity and arm to generate their offence. Manning is always liable to put together a Hall of Fame performance, but judging by the way the Colts struggled to connect with one another in the loss to New England, San Diego may have the edge. If the Chargers can win against the Colts, it would be huge for their place in the division standings and their march towards a playoff berth.

At the beginning of the 2010-11 NFL season, any discussion over the best quarterbacks in the league included the names Peyton Manning and Drew Brees.The Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback is an undisputed future Hall of Famer, while his counterpart on the New Orleans Saints has the freshest Super Bowl bragging rights. However, 11 weeks into the season, two other quarterbacks have stolen the spotlight: Tom Brady of the New England Patriots, and Michael Vick of the Philadelphia Eagles. The Pats and the Eagles are a combined 13-5 in the NFL standings, and the two quarterbacks have been playing out of their minds in recent weeks, which brings about a new debate: who’s better, Brady or Vick?

The Case for Brady: In terms of legacy, it’s not much of a contest: Brady’s overall career has been far more successful than Vick’s, as he’s the proud owner of three Super Bowl rings (Vick has none) and put together one of the most impressive single seasons in football history in 2007, when he recorded 50 touchdowns and over 4,800 passing yards. His off-field image has also been relatively spotless, in stark contrast to Vick, who was released from federal prison in 2009 after serving 23 months for his role in a dog fighting operation.

On the gridiron, Brady is the quintessential team leader, reading opposing defences well and directing the offence accordingly. Brady possesses a monster throwing arm, which allows him to send his receivers deep for long completions. With his picture-perfect throwing form and follow through, Brady sets up his teammates to score like few others in football history.

Perhaps Brady’s most admirable quality, though, is his amazing ability to adapt on the fly. While he can appear relaxed and quiet at times during the regular season, Brady always turns his energy levels up a couple notches for big games. New England has had great success in the postseason during

Brady’s tenure, and much of that can be attributed to a quarterback who thrives under pressure.

The Case for Vick: Vick opposes the “quarterback stereotype” as much as Brady fits it. The Virginia native brought a new dimension to the most important position in football when he was drafted out of Virginia Tech to the Atlanta Falcons in 2001. Vick’s footwork is highly unorthodox yet incredibly effective, as he uses his great lateral quickness to move around in the pocket until he sees an opening, or put his head down and run the football himself.

Accuracy is an element of the game Vick struggled with early in his career, but has completed a solid 62.7 percent of his passes this season. He has also become a better on-field presence later as of late, and like Brady, is a master of improvisation and creating plays out of nothing.

On Monday, Vick put together one of the most impressive single games in history, as he threw for more than 300 yards and ran for more than 50, en route to six total touchdowns and the highest Eagles’ football score of the season.

Decision: Vick has been the flashier, more exciting player this season, but Brady’s team is still ahead in the standings and is a favorite to make it to the Super Bowl. Brady’s consistency and career accomplishments place him ahead of Vick as the better current quarterback.

The lead in the NFC East standings will be on the line when the New York Giants visit the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night. New York, after powering through several substandard teams, dropped a home game to the lowly Dallas Cowboys last week while the Eagles spanked the fourth division team, Washington, on Monday night. Momentum may be in the favour of Philly, whose offense seems unstoppable, but nothing is certain in battles for control of the conference’s “Beast” division.

The priority for Coach Tom Coughlin’s Giants will be to contain Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, who has been the league’s best offensive player through 10 weeks. Good luck. Vick went off for 5 total scores in the first half of Monday’s revenge game against the Redskins and has been equally capable slinging the ball from the pocket as he has been tucking it and bursting for big runs. If any team is capable of troubling Vick it is these Giants, with their talented defensive line. Ends Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora are two of the NFL’s best at pressuring the quarterback and they have the athleticism to chase after or seal the edges against Vick. Still, the Giants have no linebacker who can come close to spying Vick effectively and their secondary will be tested by the quarterback’s arm and the Eagles’ speedy receivers DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin. Philadelphia will spread the field and throw early to set up the run, so the Giants’ third ranked rush defense will have little impact on the Eagles’ game plan. The keys for the Giants will be to apply pressure on Vick with a four man rush and to have their safeties, Antrel Rolle and Deon Grant, stay behind the Eagles’ deep threats.

On offense New York will try to get their smash-mouth running game going against an Eagles defense that is undersized and built to defend a lead. Defensive coordinator Sean McDermott’s unit is effective at blitzing and coverage but has been proven to soft against a power running game. If the Giants can establish running back Ahmad Bradshaw, they can keep quarterback Eli Manning out of dangerous situations where he might be forced into turnovers by the Eagles’ opportunistic defense. Defensive end Trent Cole will be in Manning’s face all day long and if Eli makes the mistake of throwing the ball up under pressure, he might find himself watching Asante Samuel or rookie Dmitri Patterson, the Eagles’ talented corners, trot into his end zone for a score. The Eagles will throw the whole bag of strikingly confusing blitz packages at Manning and his best solution is to hand the ball to Bradshaw to punish the middle of the defense.

This is one of the league’s best rivalries and Sunday’s edition is sure to be hard fought in the Philadelphia cold. The Eagles will be the best team the Giants have faced all season long and Vick is the most challenging player to prepare for. If the Giants can run the ball effectively then they might be able to keep up. Otherwise, Philadelphia will leave New York in their dust as they put up another high score and take over first place in the standings.

The AFC was as hard-hitting as we expected in this contest featuring the top two defenses in the NFL. Baltimore’s Joe Flacco finally showed his rookie inexperience, throwing three picks as the Pittsburgh Steelers advanced with a 23-14 victory, covering the 5.5-point NFL spread. Big plays also carried the Steelers to the Super Bowl, as Santonio Holmes caught a 65-yard touchdown pass, while Troy Polamalu’s 40-yard interception for a score late in the fourth quarter sealed the game for Pittsburgh.

Arizona overcame the NFL betting odds to beat Philadelphia 32-25 at home as 4-point underdogs, and the Cardinals are now headed to their first Super Bowl. The Arizona defense continued their improvement, forcing three turnovers from the Eagles, while Kurt Warner was amazing, going 21-of-28 for 279 yards and four touchdowns.

Super Bowl XLIII odds have come out, with the Steelers opening up as 7-point favorites to win their sixth Super Bowl, while Arizona are under no pressure at all as their fans are just ecstatic to be mentioned in the same sentence as “Super Bowl XLIII Betting“.

Although the Ravens vs Steelers matchup seems to be getting all of the attention, the game I’m excited about is the Eagles vs Cardinals matchup. It’s tough to beat a team twice in a year. See: the Ravens/Titans game last week, or the Chargers/Colts game the week before. So does that mean that the game-to-game adjustments benefit someone in this Eagles vs Cardinals matchup?

Nonetheless, let’s get to some picks:

Eagles vs Cardinals odds: Eagles -4

The Eagles vs Cardinals spread is a little strange for an NFC Conference Championship game: the road team is favored by more than a field goal. It’s pretty rare that at this point in the season we would see a road team favored by so much, but that’s the case since no one really believes in the Cardinals.

One thing to keep in mind for this Eagles vs Cardinals line, the Cards did get blown out in the previous meeting and the question is how will they adjust? The Eagles pass defense seems to be the kryptonite to the Cards passing game while the Cardinals welcoming pass defense figures to be a huge weakness against the Eagles pass-happy offense.

I’ll go with the experience in this matchup.

Eagles vs Cardinals pick: Eagles -4

Ravens vs Steelers odds: Steelers -5.5

I’ll keep it short and sweet in this contest. Bla, bla, bla…physical contest…bla, bla, bla…tight defensive tilt…bla, bla, bla…division rivalry.

Bottom: in the previous two Ravens vs Steelers matchup this season, neither contest was decided by more than this spread so I’ll take the points.

Ravens vs Steelers pick: Ravens +5.5

Are the Philadelphia Eagles the Arizona Cardinals kryptonite? Sportsbook odds have the Eagles as a four-point favorite over the Cardinals, yet the Cardinals are at home. The bookmakers are clearly saying that the Eagles are the better team.

The Cardinals simply don’t run the ball and if you had to pick a weakness in the Eagles defense, it would be their run defense. The Eagles have the third-best pass defense and they have a quartet of solid corners that can play with anyone. More importantly in this Eagles vs Cardinals matchup is the fact that the Eagles, who send a variety of exotic blitzes, will find a way to pressure Kurt Warner.

On the flip side, the Eagles are very much a passing team themselves. And the good news for them is that the Cardinals have allowed the most passing touchdowns in the league. On top of that, Brian Westbrook figures to have a big day.

As long as the Eagles, the Northbet Favorite, don’t make a ton of mistakes like the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers did, they should come up on the winning end of this Eagles vs Cardinals matchup.

Giants vs Cowboys Odds: Cowboys -3

Sportsbook odds have the Cowboys favored even though they have the worse record. Keep an eye on the injury report as the Giants might rest Brandon Jacobs this week. The Cowboys are desperate for a win and this is virtually their season. If they lose, they are probably out of the playoffs. Look for the Cowboys to get a key win and steer towards the playoffs.

Giants vs Cowboys Pick: Cowboys -3

Browns vs Eagles odds:

On one hand, you have a team that is mailing it in. That would be the Browns. They also have tuned out their head coach and are down to their third-string quarterback. That’s on top of the fact that they weren’t very good to begin with. Now they have to head to Philadelphia to play on Monday Night Football for the third time this season. Look for them to get their first loss on National television against one of the hottest teams in the league. Good luck.

Browns vs Eagles Pick: Eagles -14