Rams’ staggering playoff odds are nearly unheard of in NFL history

The 2026 Los Angeles Rams haven’t played a single game yet, but the oddsmakers are already treating their playoff chances like January can be penciled into the calendar. 

After their first two wins in the preseason, sportsbooks have installed the Rams as overwhelming favorites to make the playoffs with -500 odds, the shortest odds of any team in football. 

At -500, bettors would have to risk $500 just to win $100 on Los Angeles reaching the postseason. Baltimore owns the next-shortest price in the NFL at -375, followed by Buffalo at -350. No NFC team is particularly close to the Rams, with Detroit and reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle sitting at -220.

Needless to say, that is an enormous amount of confidence in reigning NFL MVP Matthew Stafford and a Rams roster constructed with all the subtlety of a championship-or-bust billboard. 

The expectations don’t stop with playoff chances. The Rams and Ravens also share the NFL’s highest regular season win total at 11.5 games, another indication that oddsmakers see the Rams as a 12-win team, operating in a different neighborhood than most teams in the league. 

Oddsmakers also like the other teams in the NFC West as well. Seattle has -220 playoff odds and San Francisco sits at -150. Lowly Arizona is not expected to make the playoffs with the worst offs at +2000. Their over/under on regular season wins is 3.5. 

Of course, these are just preseason odds. It guarantees nothing. The Rams know all too well that injuries can derail a season. Super Bowl favorites fall come winter. Every NFL season has at least one team that sees their preseason projections burnt to a crisp with a blowtorch.

But -500 isn’t merely respect. It’s the betting market essentially daring you to imagine the Rams missing the playoffs. 

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For a franchise built to win the Super Bowl right now, the message from oddsmakers couldn’t be much louder: Making the playoffs isn’t considered an accomplishment.

It’s now the expectation.