Las Vegas says the Broncos are poised to win the Super Bowl for the third time.
According to the Las Vegas Hilton, the world’s largest sports books, the Broncos have opened the NFL’s conference championship round as 8-5 favorites to win the Super Bowl.
Seattle and Pittsburgh, which comes to Invesco Field at Mile High on Sunday for the AFC championship game, opened with 5-2 odds of winning the Super Bowl.
Carolina, which plays at Seattle on Sunday in the NFC championship game, opened with 11-1 odds of winning.
“The public likes the Broncos, and that’s how we have it set,” Ed Salmons, manager at the Las Vegas Hilton, said Sunday night.
Denver is a 3 1/2-point favorite to beat Pittsburgh, and Seattle is a 4 1/2-point favorite to beat Carolina.
At the Wynn Las Vegas, Denver is a 3-2 favorite to win it all. John Avello, the director of race and sports operations at the casino, said Denver would be about a 3 1/2-point favorite over Seattle and about a 4- or 5-point favorite over Carolina.
He said Pittsburgh will be favored to win the Super Bowl if it beats Denver.
“Denver is absolutely the favorite right now,” Avello said. “It’s because the AFC will be the favorite no matter who is in it. But right now, they are the favorite.”
Belichick not happy
New England coach Bill Belichick, during a conference call with Boston-area reporters Sunday, indicated he wasn’t pleased with some of the officiating during Denver’s 27-13 win over the Patriots.
Belichick didn’t specify which calls he didn’t like, but said he expected better from a playoff officiating crew. He said the calls weren’t the reason New England’s 10-game postseason winning streak ended.
“Well, there were some real questionable decisions, there’s not doubt about that,” Belichick said. “But the bottom line is we didn’t play well enough to win. Didn’t coach well enough to win. Denver was the better team (Saturday) night. … There were certainly some very questionable decisions in that game that I’m surprised that was a playoff crew, but that didn’t decide the outcome of the game.”
Houston on hold
It appears the Houston Texans will have to wait at least another week before naming their new coach. It is expected they will select Broncos offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak for the job. Kubiak, a Houston native, had an excellent interview with Texans officials on Jan. 6. However, no team can talk to Kubiak as long as Denver remains in the postseason.
It appear Detroit also may be in a holding pattern because of the AFC championship game. There is speculation Steelers offensive line coach Russ Grimm is the favorite to be named the Lions’ coach. Kubiak also interviewed with the Lions.
Sold out
About 15,000 tickets available for the AFC title game sold out in about 30 minutes Sunday. Tickets were available at outlets, online and by telephone.
Tickets available for the Denver-New England game sold out in about 40 minutes.
Odds are
According to the sports book at the Las Vegas Hilton, the Broncos are the favorites to win the Super Bowl. Here is a look at where the four teams in the conference championship games stood in the preseason, compared with now, to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy:
| Team | Preseason | Current |
| Denver | 16-1 | 8-5 |
| Pittsburgh | 13-1 | 5-2 |
| Seattle | 22-1 | 5-2 |
| Carolina | 20-1 | 11-1 |
