Arizona is the biggest 11-3 underdog ever

If you looked at the standings and saw Arizona at 11-3 and then looked at the Week 16 odds and saw them as 9.5-point underdogs, you’d have to wonder – has any team with such a great record been an underdog of so many points.

Spoiler alert – the answer is no.

Not since we gathered the data from 1983 to present anyway. Two other occasions an 11-3 team was a 7-point underdog, and it happened on the same day. Atlanta laid a TD in 2004 at New Orleans and the Chargers were disrespected by the sportsbooks at Indianapolis (both lost).

[ Check the latest Arizona line at Bovada - they often have the best underdog odds on the NFL ]

Of course, there are factors at work here. Arizona is down to its third-string QB and the team they are facing is the red-hot Seattle Seahawks.

But laying almost 10 points at home? The other two games, the 11-3 team was on the road.

In fact, this is the only the second time an 11-3 team has been a home underdog. The other was Tennessee giving three points to Jacksonville in 1999. Ironic that the Jaguars were a favorite, given they just broke their 42-game-always-an-underdog streak this week, and more ironic that the team they are facing is Tennessee.