Eagles Open with Largest Underdog Betting Odds in Super Bowl Since 2009

The Philadelphia Eagles and their fans have embraced the underdog role during the playoffs with dog masks and even some celebratory barking and will have the chance to do so once again against the New England Patriots.

According to David Purdum of ESPN.com, the Eagles were listed as the biggest Super Bowl underdogs since 2009 when the opening lines were released Sunday.

Purdum noted the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas listed New England as a 5.5-point favorite, while the defending champs were favored by 6.5 in the Wynn and 6.0 at Caesars Palace. OddsShark also weighed in on Super Bowl LII:

That is welcome news for the Patriots, considering Purdum pointed out the favorite has won 33 of 51 Super Bowls.

However, the last one to feature a bigger spread than this—Super Bowl XLIII when the Pittsburgh Steelers were seven-point favorites over the Arizona Cardinals, per Purdum—came down to the wire with Pittsburgh winning by just four points with a touchdown pass in the final minute.

It is no surprise New England is favored given its dynasty status. It has won two of the last three Lombardi Trophies and five in total since Bill Belichick became the head coach before the 2000 season. It reached two more Super Bowls during that span as well, only to lose to the New York Giants.

As for the Eagles, they have never won a Super Bowl in franchise history and lost to Belichick and Tom Brady in Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005. They are also working without their regular-season MVP candidate in Carson Wentz, who tore his ACL during a December win over the Los Angeles Rams.

That means Nick Foles will be tasked with going against Brady, who is a five-time champion, two-time league MVP and four-time Super Bowl MVP. He is on the short list of the best quarterbacks in the history of the league and engineered a comeback against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday with two touchdown passes to Danny Amendola in the fourth quarter.

However, Foles was perhaps even more impressive with 352 passing yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions in the NFC Championship Game against the Minnesota Vikings.

The Eagles will likely need another head-turning performance from him if they are going to overcome the odds of facing the mighty Patriots.