It’s a rare occurrence when sportsbooks admit to getting completely destroyed, but last weekend’s slate of NFL playoff games proved to be one of those weekends. And if there was one team the books are cursing under their breaths after all the carnage, it’s the San Francisco 49ers.
Whether it was public money or sharp money, everyone was dialed in on San Francisco to win and cover the three-point spread against the Carolina Panthers. For some books, the Niners were the common denominator in a lot of parlays and teasers that were taken over the weekend. So when the final score read 23-10 in favor of the favored road team, it was one cash out after another, enough perhaps to cause a lot of books’ to lose their minds.
Even the New Orleans Saints – Seattle Seahawks game saw a lot of sweaty palms coming from sportsbooks, a lot of which were caused by the Seahawks’ margin of victory (8 points) landing squarely in the middle of a spread that fluctuated between -7 to -9 throughout the week.
Those concerns were quickly quelled, though, when the New England Patriots stomped the Indianapolis Colts, 43-22, on a game that saw the public curiously drive down the Colts line from -9 to -7 by kickoff. In the end, the Patriots’ covering the spread was more than enough to give the books a plus side on the ledger.
Then Sunday came and all hell broke lose.
In the end, it still could’ve been worse had the San Diego Chargers not converted that late field goal that saw San Diego back-door the 10.5-point spread against the Denver Broncos. Had the Chargers not made that late run to make the score a little closer, the weekend could’ve gone down as one of the worst NFL weekends in recent memory.
All thanks to the public riding the 49ers heavily…all the way to the bank.
