LV sportsbooks lose big as NFL favorites go 10-2 ATS

It’s never easy.

Even on one of the best NFL Sundays of the season for the betting public. Even when their beloved favorites go 10-2 ATS and overs go 8-3-1.

Las Vegas sportsbooks lost millions on one of their worst days of the NFL season. But bettors had to sweat out several of the biggest decisions, including close covers by the Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and San Francisco 49ers.

“For once, there were bad beats for the book,” Caesars Sportsbook vice president of trading Craig Mucklow said. “Usually it’s the other way around.”

BetMGM and Caesars each reported a seven-figure loss, the SuperBook reported a six-figure loss, and Station Casinos also reported a big losing day.

The books were buried with parlays to the Packers, who closed as 12-point favorites over the Bears on “Sunday Night Football” at Lambeau Field.

“If the Packers cover, it will be an historic day,” Mucklow said before the game.

Green Bay and over 43 was the doomsday scenario for the books.

“If the Packers cover, it may be the worst day of the year because of all the parlays,” MGM Resorts director of trading Jeff Stoneback said beforehand.

The total flew over in the first half as Chicago took a 27-21 lead. But Green Bay opened the second half with 24 straight points to go ahead 45-27 with 4:33 left.

After a Bears field goal with 1:26 to go, all the Packers had to do was recover the onside kick to end it. But they failed to do that, making their backers sweat some more on a cold night in the valley.

Green Bay bettors finally could exhale after Justin Fields threw an interception with 53 seconds left as the Packers won 45-30 and covered to cap a glorious day for bettors.

Close covers

The Bucs, 3½-point favorites over the Bills, appeared to be cruising to an easy cover with a 24-3 halftime lead.

But Buffalo outscored Tampa Bay 24-3 in the second half to force overtime and push Bucs bettors to the brink, settling for a tying field goal on fourth-and-2 at the 7-yard line with 22 seconds left in regulation.

Needing a touchdown in OT to bail out Tampa Bay bettors, Tom Brady delivered a 58-yard TD pass to Breshad Perriman to lift the Bucs to a 33-27 win and cover.

Costly extra point

The Cowboys closed as 6½-point favorites over Washington after the line steamed from -4½ on Saturday because of COVID-19 absences on the Football Team.

Dallas led 24-0 at the half, and the cover wasn’t in doubt until late.

Washington scored a TD with 5:09 left to make it 27-14 and was in position to burn Cowboys bettors who laid 6½ when Dak Prescott threw a pick-6 to make it 27-20 with 4:13 to go. But Dallas blocked the extra point and held on for the 27-20 win and cover.

Niners and overtime

The 49ers, -2 over the Bengals, were up 20-6 in the second half when Cincinnati rallied for two fourth-quarter TDs to send the game to OT.

The Bengals went ahead with a field goal. But Jimmy Garoppolo answered with a 12-yard TD pass to Brandon Aiyuk that gave San Francisco a 26-23 win and cover and pushed the game over the total.

“The worst-case scenario for us was the 49ers and over,” Stoneback said. “When it goes to OT, the only way we can lose that bet is if the Bengals kick a field goal and the 49ers go down and score a touchdown. And that’s what happened.

“That was our day in a nutshell.”

Biggest losers

Other big losers for the books were the Titans (-8½, beat Jaguars 20-0), Broncos (-12½, beat Lions 38-10), Saints (-4½, beat Jets 30-9) and Seahawks (-9½, beat Texans 33-13).

The biggest winner for the books was the Ravens (+2½), who rallied from a 24-3 deficit for a backdoor cover in a 24-22 loss to the Browns.

“It could’ve been a lot worse,” Westgate SuperBook director John Murray said. “One of our biggest needs was Baltimore, who had no business covering at all.”

Surprisingly, BetMGM’s only significant winner was the Chiefs (-10), who whipped the Raiders 48-9 to cover and push the game over the total of 48.

“There was a lot of money on the Raiders, and they bet the under, too,” Stoneback said. “It’s not too often we need the Chiefs and over.”

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.