NFL Weekend Betting Recap: Bears-49ers was 'New Year’s Firework for the Bettors'

Sunday night brought the kind of game bookmakers dread these days: A metric boatload of scoring, in an era when the public betting masses load up on player props, particularly via same-game parlays.

The final tally for Bears-49ers: 12 touchdowns and 633 passing yards between the two quarterbacks, and 936 yards of total offense.

All that helped flip the board in NFL Week 17 odds, at least for the 10 Sunday games.

"It’s turned a losing day for customers into a huge day for them. The third-highest-scoring game of the year, on prime time, is a New Year’s firework for the bettors," Caesars Sports vice president of trading Craig Mucklow said.

More on the weekend that was, as multiple oddsmakers recap NFL betting in Week 17.

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Sunday Night Showdown

It’s not as if bookmakers didn’t expect some scoring Sunday night. The Bears-49ers total closed at 51.5, the highest on the NFL Week 17 oddsboard.

But at halftime, it was already knocking on 51.5’s door, with San Francisco up 28-21. Just six seconds into the fourth quarter, it was 35-all after D’Andre Swift’s 22-yard touchdown run for Chicago.

The outburst slowed slightly from there, but the game went right to the wire as the Niners won 42-38. Chicago was on the doorstep for a game-winning touchdown, at San Fran’s 2-yard line, before Caleb Williams’ final pass fell incomplete as time expired.

Those dozen touchdowns came from nine players, surely delighting those who wager on anytime touchdown parlays.

"For the sportsbooks who were counting their winnings after the first 14 games of Week 17, it showed why we never judge the week until Tuesday morning," Mucklow said. "Although not a winning week [overall] for the customers, the Bears-49ers scoring spectacle certainly turned the tables on what looked to be a winning day for the book.

"Eighty points and nine unique TD scorers highlight how quickly results can turn in the customers’ favor."

‘Huge Game for Customers’

San Francisco was no more than a 3.5-point favorite until just before kickoff, when several sportsbooks moved to -4/-4.5. So a 4-point win by the favorite also boosted the majority of point-spread bettors.

That made a great outcome even better for the public betting masses.

"It was the third-best result of the year for customers, behind Bills-Ravens Week 1 and the Packers-Cowboys tie in Week 4. A huge game for customers," Mucklow said.

BetMGM reported getting beat up on the game itself, but still coming out OK for the day and the week in the NFL.

"Same-game parlay bettors had a field day with this game," BetMGM trading manager Tristan Davis said. "This game was certainly a good one for the bettors. But it was still a good day for us. Everybody wins."

Added Casey Degnon, risk manager for The SuperBook in Las Vegas: "We needed a few more seconds for the cardiac Bears. The 49ers covering and Over was a bad result for us. It made it a small losing day overall."

Winner for the Week

As Davis alluded to above, BetMGM still came out in front on Sunday and in the NFL Week 17 odds battle as a whole.

"It’s been a good week, and with a week to go, it’s been a very good regular season," Davis said, noting his shop and many others got an early edge with the Christmas Day games. "The Lions getting beat was the best result of the week."

Detroit was a 7.5-point road favorite vs. Minnesota, but the Vikings notched a 23-10 upset victory in the middle matchup of Thursday’s three-game slate. That result blew up a ton of moneyline parlays that ran to all three Christmas favorites — the Cowboys, Lions and Broncos.

At BetMGM, the Lions’ loss rendered the Broncos-Chiefs nightcap a non-concern. Davis said as much just before Denver and K.C. kicked off.

"Put it this way: I will be watching ‘Home Alone,’" he said.

Fly Eagles Fly

Eagles-Bills, in Sunday’s late window on FOX, joined Bears-49ers as the marquee matchup in NFL Week 17 odds. And it was sort of the anti-Bears-49ers, with points very much at a premium.

Buffalo was a 3-point home favorite, but never led, and in fact was down 13-0 well into the fourth quarter. A Josh Allen 2-yard TD run finally broke the ice, but the Bills missed the extra point, so they still trailed 13-6.

That proved key when an Allen 1-yard run made it 13-12 with just five seconds remaining. If that first PAT was good, a second successful extra point would’ve won it.

Instead, the Bills went for the 2-point conversion and the win, and failed — which bookmakers loved.

"The Bills losing outright helped us. We got steamed late, just before kickoff. There was a ton of late money on Buffalo," South Point sportsbook director Chris Andrews said.

John Murray, vice president of The SuperBook, saw similar activity on the Bills.

"A lot of money on Buffalo in really just the last 24 hours. We needed the Eagles," Murray said.

Giant Leap

In a battle of two franchises contending for the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, the Giants didn’t look like a tanking team vs. the Raiders. And bettors seemed to know it.

At The SuperBook, New York opened as a 1.5-point road favorite, but by midweek, the number flipped to Las Vegas -1.5. However, from Thursday-Sunday, Big Blue was bet up to a 3-point favorite, then trounced the Raiders 34-10.

"We [took] a lot of money on the Giants, and the Raiders [were] one of our biggest decisions of the day," Murray said.

Both teams entered Sunday at 2-13 and on nine-game losing streaks. That’s now 10 straight losses for the Raiders, who at 2-14 have the inside track for the top pick in 2026.

Patrick Everson is a sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and senior reporter for VegasInsider.com. He is a distinguished journalist in the national sports betting space. He’s based in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golfing in 110-degree heat. Follow him on X: @PatrickE_Vegas

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