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2021 AFC Championship Betting
Ding dong, the king is dead. Most pundits are heaping dirt onto the New England Patriots’ incredible run in the AFC after the departure of Tom Brady this offseason. The Patriots are no longer the favorites to win the AFC East according to the NFL futures odds, and whoever lines up under center will have enormous shoes to fill.
Kansas City and Baltimore are the co-favorites to win the AFC, and no other team has odds of less than 10-1 to win the conference. The Chiefs and Ravens are led by the last two NFL MVPs, and they were the top two teams in the AFC last season.
AFC Championship Futures Odds
Kansas City Chiefs +200
Baltimore Ravens +255
Pittsburgh Steelers +875
Buffalo Bills +1100
New England Patriots +1285
Tennessee Titans +1345
Indianapolis Colts +1800
Cleveland Browns +2500
Los Angeles Chargers +2700
Las Vegas Raiders +3000
Houston Texans +4800
Denver Broncos +7000
Jacksonville Jaguars +8000
Cincinnati Bengals +9000
Miami Dolphins +10000
New York Jets +12500
Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson are the two most dynamic quarterbacks in the NFL today, and their teams are loaded with talent on both sides of the ball. Kansas City had one of the league’s best offenses even though Mahomes missed multiple games because of injury, while Jackson had a record-setting year by smashing Michael Vick’s record for rushing yards by a quarterback. There is a clear gap between these two teams and everyone else in the AFC.
There are six teams bunched together in the next tier of contenders, but they all have flaws. Indianapolis is seen as the team most likely to upend the two favorites, yet no one is sure how Philip Rivers will perform since he will turn 39 in December. The Bills have an excellent defense and a smart coach, but Josh Allen looms large, and anyone that believed in Cleveland last season is hesitant to put faith in the Browns after a 6-10 campaign in 2019.
Denver is the team with the most potential outside of the main contenders. The Broncos have the makings of a very good defense, and the receiving corps stands to be much better with the addition of Jerry Jeudy and K.J. Hamler. Melvin Gordon III gives the squad a playmaking running back, and Drew Lock looked sharp over the last month of his rookie season.
AFC Divisions
AFC East Betting
Buffalo Bills
New England Patriots
Miami Dolphins
New York Jets
The departure of Tom Brady has many doubting the Patriots in their quest to win a record 12th straight division title. That’s generally been the type of motivation that Bill Belichick thrives on in order to keep his team from becoming complacent, but there have never been this many questions on offense during his twenty years in New England. Read more
AFC North Betting
Baltimore Ravens
Pittsburgh Steelers
Cleveland Browns
Cincinnati Bengals
There weren’t many people that believed Baltimore was the team to beat in the AFC North coming into last season. The Ravens were seen as a tier behind the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers according to the oddsmakers, but Lamar Jackson proved everyone wrong. Jackson was the best player in the NFL and set numerous records on the way to winning the NFL MVP and leading Baltimore to a league-best 14-2 record. Read more
AFC South Betting
Indianapolis Colts
Tennessee Titans
Houston Texans
Jacksonville Jaguars
The AFC South is a three-horse race entering the 2020 season. Although the Houston Texans have won this division in four of the last five seasons, they are considered a sizable underdog to the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans. Bill O’Brien’s decision to trade Deandre Hopkins for essentially nothing was the subject of derision throughout the league, and the defense around three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt continues to be dismantled. However, Deshaun Watson is easily the best quarterback in the division, giving the Texans an edge over their AFC South foes. Read more
AFC West Betting
Kansas City Chiefs
Denver Broncos
Las Vegas Raiders
Los Angeles Chargers
The biggest favorite to win their division this year is the Kansas City Chiefs. The defending Super Bowl champions are considered twice as likely to win their division than any other team per the NFL futures odds, and they seem set to dominate after no other team in the AFC West even made it to .500 in 2019. Kansas City has won at least nine games each season since Andy Reid took over in 2013, and it would be a shock if the Chiefs didn’t win at least 10 games in 2020. Read more
AFC Winners (2000)
| YEAR |
WINNER |
| 2019 |
Kansas City Chiefs |
| 2018 |
New England Patriots |
| 2017 |
New England Patriots |
| 2016 |
New England Patriots |
| 2015 |
Denver Broncos |
| 2014 |
New England Patriots |
| 2013 |
Denver Broncos |
| 2012 |
Baltimore Ravens |
| 2011 |
New England Patriots |
| 2010 |
Pittsburgh Steelers |
| 2009 |
Indianapolis Colts |
| 2008 |
Pittsburgh Steelers |
| 2007 |
New England Patriots |
| 2006 |
Indianapolis Colts |
| 2005 |
Pittsburgh Steelers |
| 2004 |
New England Patriots |
| 2003 |
New England Patriots |
| 2002 |
Oakland Raiders |
| 2001 |
New England Patriots |
| 2000 |
Baltimore Ravens |
The AFC has been all about runs of dominance in its history. First, it was Don Shula's Dolphins, who won three straight conference championships in the early-1970s. Then, the Steel Curtain that went on to win four AFC Championships and four Super Bowls during the latter half of that decade. Buffalo was more impressive than Pittsburgh with a record four straight AFC titles, but the Bills famously failed to win a single Super Bowl in the early 1990s.
New England is the first team to rule the conference for two decades. The Patriots’ run of success under Bill Belichick and Tom Brady was mind boggling. They appeared in eight straight AFC Championship Games and this franchise made it to that stage 13 times from 2001 to 2018. Despite that run, the Pats haven’t been to the most conference title games. That distinction belongs to the Steelers, who dropped to 8-8 all-time in the AFC Championship by losing to the Pats in 2016.
AFC Championship Results by Team
| TEAM |
CHAMPIONSHIPS |
LAST |
| New England Patriots |
11 |
2018 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers |
8 |
2010 |
| Denver Broncos |
8 |
2015 |
| Miami Dolphins |
5 |
1984 |
| Oakland Raiders |
4 |
2002 |
| Buffalo Bills |
4 |
1993 |
| Indianapolis Colts |
3 |
2009 |
| Baltimore Ravens |
2 |
2012 |
| Cincinnati Bengals |
2 |
1988 |
| Tennessee Titans |
1 |
1999 |
| Los Angeles Chargers |
1 |
1994 |
| Kansas City Chiefs |
1 |
2019 |
More than half of the 50 AFC Championships that have been awarded since the merger between the AFL and NFL have been won by either New England, Pittsburgh, or Denver. The Patriots became the first team in league history to win 10 conference championships in the middle of their three-peat from 2016 to 2018, and they have gone on to win six Super Bowl titles.
Four AFC teams have never won a conference championship. Jacksonville, Houston, Cleveland, and the New York Jets have yet to make it to the Super Bowl, and the Texans haven’t even been to an AFC Championship Game in their 18-year history.
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