Denver/Jacksonville, Atlanta/Baltimore Tied For Record

Published on December 13th, 2016 5:50 pm EST
Edit: The upcoming contest between the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets is not a record, as the Chiefs are 21 point favorites.

What was the largest point spread in the history of the NFL?

In our past article, we looked at the point spreads in the 50 Super Bowl games that have taken place. The highest ever point spread in a Super Bowl game belonged to Super Bowl XXIX, when San Francisco entered the game as 18 1/2 point favorites over the San Diego Chargers. The 49ers would end up covering the spread.

In terms of regular season games, two games - one in the modern era, and one before the AFL/NFL merger - have had point spreads of 28 points.

In 1996, the Baltimore Colts took on the expansion Atlanta Falcons and were 28 point favorites to win. The Colts, led by Johnny Unitas, would end up winning 19-7 in a sloppy, poorly played game. The Falcons were winning the contest 7-6 at halftime before the Colts took over in the second half, likely after a nasty chewing out by their coach.

On October 13th, 2013, the undefeated Denver Broncos hosted the Jacksonville Jaguars, who entered the game without a win. The Denver Broncos, led by Peyton Manning, were running a high octane offense that was something like out of a video game, while the Jaguars were embarrassingly bad.

The Broncos jumped out to an early 14-0 led, though the Jaguars managed to make it close at halftime, bringing the score to 14-12.

In the second half of the contest, Knowshon Moreno took over, scoring three touchdowns and giving the Broncos a 35-19 victory. Peyton Manning had a fairly subdued game, passing for 295 yards and two touchdowns.

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In both games, the Colts and Broncos were 28 point favorites to win. In both games, the favored teams had legendary quarterbacks at the helm.

In both games, the favored team failed to cover.

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