National Football League

NFL odds: Two winning conference championship betting trends and more

Updated Jan. 28, 2022 3:37 p.m. ET

What an amazing weekend of football in the NFL divisional round as each of the four games featured a field goal sailing through the uprights as regulation time expired.

Needless to say, it was just as action-packed for bettors as it was for the players themselves. There was so much head-turning you'd think the exorcist showed up, or maybe the grim reaper.

In any event, with the conference championships looming, let's dive into the best betting trends for the NFL playoffs third week.

The trends this week focus all on the home teams.

Per FOX Sports Research, home teams are cooking when it comes to conference title games. Over the last eight seasons, home teams are on an 13-3 straight up (SU) and 11-5 against the spread (ATS) run. The takeaway here is that home-field advantage has been a huge factor in recent seasons.

Looking into the home team numbers even deeper, we see that hosts favored by fewer than seven points are 13-6 SU and 11-8 ATS in their past 19 tries. Additionally, these games have gone over the total 11 times.

From a gambling perspective, this trend falls right into the Los Angeles Rams' hands like a 20-yard pass to Cooper Kupp with under 30 seconds to go. The Rams face the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. They are favored by 3.5 points and hope the third time's the charm as they have already lost to their divisional rival twice this season.

If this trend holds, the Los Angeles Rams will punch their ticket, or their Uber ride, to Super Bowl LVI, which also takes place at SoFi stadium. And if you follow this winning trend, you can cash in your FOX Bet slip.

The second trend to look at is a strong one for Kansas City Chiefs backers. Over the last 15 seasons, the host of the AFC championship game has been on a tear as home teams are 13-2 SU and 10-5 ATS in the span.

After the epic game on Sunday night, the Kansas City Chiefs find themselves in this spot for the fourth season in a row. Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill lead a high-powered attack that is laying seven points to a Cincinnati Bengals team that is as much of a long-shot Cinderella as is possible in the NFL.

Additionally, the last nine games with O/U totals in the 50s have gone over six times. The total for this game is currently set as 54.5. After seeing Mahomes & Co. score relentlessly in the fourth quarter last Sunday, this trend is certainly in play.

If Andy Reid can keep this team pushin' p, expect Burrow & Co. to be left holding the pumpkin while you buy some new glass slippers with your winnings.

Extra tidbits:

- The outright winner has covered the point spread in all but two of the last 40 conference championship games.

- The past 17 times a home team has won and covered the point spread, that game has also gone Over the total at a 13-4 rate.

- Since the 2010 season, favorites of 6 to 8 points in conference championship games are 7-1 SU. They are 10-3 SU since 2000, under the same criteria.

- Favorites are 27-15 SU in conference championships games since the 2000 season.

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