Will Philadelphia Eagles go 17-0? Odds are against it

Only four teams in NFL history have finished perfect regular seasons: the 2007 New England Patriots (16-0), 1972 Miami Dolphins (14-0), 1942 Chicago Bears (11-0) and 1934 Chicago Bears (13-0).

Will the Philadelphia Eagles join that quartet and become the first team to complete a 17-0 regular season?

That prop is on the board at several sportsbooks, with “Yes” paying 11-1 at Caesars.

Essentially all of the action on the prop is on the Eagles to go undefeated. In fact, the Westgate SuperBook, which has the best price on the “No” at -1,400, hasn’t taken a single bet on them to fail.

“Not a penny,” Westgate oddsmaker Ed Salmons said. “Whenever you put up any team to go undefeated or 0-17, they always bet the big plus.

“We’ll lose a decent number if they go undefeated.”

Not that Salmons, a Philadelphia native and lifelong Eagles fan, is too concerned. When the Westgate first posted the prop during Philadelphia’s bye in Week 7 and made it a 25-1 long shot to go 17-0, he gave it “zero” chance.

Now that the Eagles are 8-0 (5-3 ATS), his opinion hasn’t changed.

“It’s the NFL. It’s so hard to go undefeated,” he said. “Every week that goes by, they have some big spreads. But as we just saw when Buffalo lost to the Jets and was laying 10½, it can happen anytime.”

Caesars has posted lines on the rest of the NFL season, and the Eagles are favorites in all nine of their remaining games.

“Even though the Eagles have a favorable schedule the rest of the way, I don’t see it happening,” Caesars assistant director of trading Adam Pullen said. “If they can lock up the No. 1 seed early enough, there’s no real reason to risk injury to a player for the chance of going undefeated.”

Philadelphia is favored by seven points or more in its next four games: -11 vs. Washington on Monday; -10½ at Indianapolis in Week 11; -8½ vs. Green Bay in Week 12; and -7 vs. Tennessee in Week 13.

The Eagles then play three road games in a row: -6 at the New York Giants in Week 14, -7 at Chicago in Week 15 and -1 at Dallas in Week 16.

They close the season with two home games: -6½ over New Orleans and -5 over the Giants.

“They do have road games against the Giants and Cowboys and host the Packers. Those would be the three major stumbling blocks on the schedule,” Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said. “However, as we’ve seen lately, double-digit favorites have fallen. There is so much parity in the league. They could get beat in any game.”

Dominant division

The Eagles have a two-game lead in the NFC East over the Cowboys (6-2) and Giants (6-2).

Philadelphia defeated Dallas 26-17 in their first meeting in Week 6, when Cooper Rush was the Cowboys starting quarterback. The rematch is scheduled for Christmas Eve.

“That’s, by far, the one game that stands out if they are undefeated,” Salmons said. “It’s their biggest game of the year either way. Dallas, right now, has a chance to win the division. That game would be their Super Bowl to date.”

Philadelphia is the -505 favorite at the Westgate to win the division, followed by Dallas at +415 and New York at 20-1.

“Dallas’ defense has just been amazing this year,” Salmons said. “I thought Dallas peaked last year and would regress this year. But Dallas has played great.

“The Giants keep winning close games. They definitely have a fresh attitude with their new coach (Brian Daboll) there.”

Futures look bright

In the Super Bowl era, 29 teams have started 8-0. Only eight of those teams won the Super Bowl.

The Eagles are the +450 third choice at the Westgate and Circa Sports to win the NFL title. Buffalo is the +350 favorite, and Kansas City is 4-1. Philadelphia is 5-1 at Caesars, and the Chiefs are +550.

“If the Eagles played the Chiefs in the Super Bowl right now, I’d have the Chiefs as small favorites. Less than three,” Salmons said. “And a healthy Buffalo team would be -3½ or 4 right now.”

Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts is the +325 second choice at Circa to win the NFL MVP award. Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes is the +170 favorite, and Bills QB Josh Allen is the 5-1 third pick.

“If the Eagles go undefeated, it will be hard for Hurts not to win,” Salmons said.

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