Time is running out for the Cleveland Browns (0-14) to avoid becoming the second team ever to finish the regular season winless. With two weeks to go, the Browns are 6.5-point road underdogs visiting the Chicago Bears (4-10), who sportsbooks may need to cover the spread on Sunday if sharp bettors wager against another 0-16 campaign.

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The Bears have shown glimpses of success in the first season for rookie quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and what looks to be the last year for head coach John Fox. However, Cleveland still has a decent shot to upset Chicago here and has a much tougher road matchup on deck versus the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 17. So this line could dip to six points or less knowing that history favors the Browns getting a win.

On the other side of the spectrum, the New England Patriots (11-3) host the Buffalo Bills (8-6) in a huge divisional game for both teams on Sunday. The Patriots are coming off a 27-24 road victory against the Steelers and simply need to win out in order to earn the top seed in the AFC again after taking home their ninth consecutive AFC East title.

After opening as 1-point road underdogs visiting the Denver Broncos (3-9) on Sunday, the New York Jets (5-7) have moved to 1-point favorites following their 38-31 win over the Kansas City Chiefs last week. The Broncos have dropped eight straight games heading into the matchup with the Jets, their longest losing streak since 1967.

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That may be enough reason to back New York, although Denver is still 4-1 straight up and against the spread in the past five meetings. The Broncos are also 5-2 SU and ATS in their last seven as home underdogs. On the other side, the Jets are favored on the road for just the fifth time in the last two years and have won four of those games (3-1-1 ATS). Two of the wins came against the Cleveland Browns, including one this season.

Another team that has seen some early movement in its favor is the Houston Texans (4-8) as they host the San Francisco 49ers (2-10) off a big road win versus the Chicago Bears. The Texans opened as 1.5-point chalk and are up to -3 as Jimmy Garoppolo prepares to make his second start for the 49ers and second in a row away from home. Garoppolo would seem to have an edge at quarterback over Houston’s Tom Savage, but San Francisco has gone 1-7 SU and 2-6 ATS in its last eight games after a victory.

Many fans of the worst teams in the league probably are rooting for them to keep losing in hopes of securing one of the top picks in the 2018 NFL Draft. One of the first true signs of playing for the future is making a quarterback change down the stretch, opting to go with a younger player who will be around next season and needs experience.

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With Week 13 upon us, teams like the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers have decided to go in that direction as road underdogs and may actually see more support.

Last week, the Denver Broncos made a similar move in giving second-year player Paxton Lynch his third career start, but it backfired in a 21-14 road loss to the Oakland Raiders. Lynch suffered a high-ankle sprain with the Broncos trailing 21-0, and he was then replaced by veteran Trevor Siemian, who has taken the starting job back yet again.

There are 12 games scheduled for Sunday in Week 11 of the NFL season. In those 12 matchups, six road teams are favored, including the Kansas City Chiefs (6-3), who are listed as the biggest chalk overall at -11 visiting the New York Giants (1-8).

It is hard to fathom the betting public will find any way to back the stumbling Giants despite the fact that they have won four of the past five and covered seven of eight in the series.

However, it would not be surprising to see some of the other five home underdogs get support from bettors on Sunday, especially the Green Bay Packers (5-4) hosting the Baltimore Ravens (4-5).

While Green Bay quarterback Brett Hundley is considered questionable with a hamstring injury, there is a chance this line could flip from +2 if he is cleared to play based on his performance last week in a 23-16 road win over the Chicago Bears. The Ravens lost at home to the Bears in Week 6 and have dropped three of four.

Just when football bettors think they have the NFL figured out, the sportsbooks strike back and avenge their losses.

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That was certainly the case last week when favorites bounced back and dominated, especially those playing at home with a 6-1-1 mark against the spread. Overall, favorites were 10-4-1 ATS after going 3-11 the previous week.

Bettors generally like taking dogs due to the perceived value, although Week 7 might have made them think twice about that. Heading into Week 8, there are again several big favorites like the Minnesota Vikings (-9.5 in London versus the Cleveland Browns), New Orleans Saints (-9 at home against the Chicago Bears), Philadelphia Eagles (-13 at home against the San Francisco 49ers) and Cincinnati Bengals (-10.5 at home against the Indianapolis Colts).

Not too much has changed at the top of the betting board halfway through the 2017 college football season, as the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide (6-0) have only strengthened their status as the team to beat for this year’s national championship.

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The Crimson Tide have taken advantage of a fairly weak SEC so far and cut their future odds down to +120 (bet $100 to win $120) as the favorite.

Alabama likely will not be truly challenged until squaring off against the 10th-ranked Auburn Tigers (5-1) in their annual Iron Bowl rivalry game on November 25. Four of the Tide’s next five games are at home, and none of their opponents during that stretch are ranked.

By the time Sunday’s NFL games kick off, there could be as many as five double-digit favorites on the Week 6 slate.

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Five favorites are currently sitting at 10 points or more and could easily move up because they are either popular public teams or facing opponents that are among the very worst in the league heading into this week’s betting action.

The Houston Texans (2-3), New England Patriots (3-2) and Washington Redskins (2-2) are all currently listed as 10-point chalk, and sportsbooks will obviously need their opponents to come through and cover the spread as big underdogs if they close even higher.

The Houston Texans (1-1) used a strong defensive performance and a huge touchdown run by rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson in his first NFL start to upset the Cincinnati Bengals last Thursday.

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It will take a much bigger effort to pull off a similar feat this Sunday when the Texans visit the New England Patriots (1-1) as 13.5-point underdogs, looking to hand the defending Super Bowl champions their second straight home loss.

Houston has already lost the past six meetings with New England, so winning at Gillette Stadium seems almost impossible in this spot. However, the Texans could help sportsbooks simply by covering the spread as the biggest dogs on the Week 3 slate.

Much like the NFL this week, college football features some major mismatches with big point spreads favoring very public teams. That means sportsbooks obviously will need the underdogs in those Week 4 games to keep the scores closer than expected and cover in hopes of beating bettors and turning a profit.

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For example, the Ohio State Buckeyes are coming off a 38-7 win over the Army Black Knights last Saturday following a surprising 31-16 home loss to the Oklahoma Sooners the previous week. The Buckeyes failed to cover both of those games and needed to rally late to beat the number in their season-opening 49-21 road victory against the Indiana Hoosiers.

Ohio State is listed as a 40-point home favorite this Saturday versus the UNLV Rebels, who are coming off a bye week after routing the Idaho Vandals 44-16 as 5-point road dogs. But the Rebels lost their season opener 43-40 to the Howard Bison as 45.5-point home favorites, so who knows which UNLV team will show up.

DeShone Kizer was the first rookie quarterback to start in 2017 for the Cleveland Browns when he faced the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1. Deshaun Watson is expected to be next in line for the Houston Texans (0-1), who visit the Cincinnati Bengals (0-1) on the road in the Week 2 Thursday Night Football matchup.

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Bettors have picked up on Houston’s anticipated quarterback change, as the Bengals have gone from opening 3-point home favorites up to 6.5-point chalk.

Fourth-year player Tom Savage had started the season opener for the Texans, but he was so bad against the Jacksonville Jaguars that he made counterpart Blake Bortles look good. Savage completed 7-of-13 passes for 62 yards before giving way to Watson, who was 12-of-23 for 102 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

It is certainly understandable to see a team like the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots get love from bettors heading into Week 1, driving them up near double-digit home favorites against the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night.

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But the Buffalo Bills have moved three points from -6 to -9 hosting the New York Jets in an early AFC East battle despite having a first-year head coach and a shaky quarterback.

Sean McDermott will make his debut in Buffalo on Sunday and hopes that Tyrod Taylor will be ready to roll after passing the NFL’s concussion protocol. Taylor is slated to start, but that obviously does not mean he will make a big enough impact to warrant the big line move.