Saints are favourites to win Super Bowl

The New Orleans Saints haven't lost in more than two months and boast the best odds to win the Super Bowl among the eight teams playing in the first round of the National Football League playoffs. The Saints enter the postseason ranked 5-1 to take the Super Bowl, backed by an eight-game winning streak, a record-setting quarterback, an unbeaten home record and the experience of an NFL title two years ago. Only the Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots, who both have a shorter potential championship path with first-round playoff byes, are given a better chance to win the Super Bowl, according to Las Vegas oddsmakers. "We're playing as well as we've played all season long right now," said Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who passed for an NFL-record 5,476 yards this season. "The real season starts now. We have to continue to progress and get better. All of our goals, dreams and aspirations are right there in front of us." The Packers have 8-5 odds of successfully defending their Super Bowl title after becoming the sixth team in NFL history to go 15-1 during the regular season. Green Bay got a bye as the top seed in the National Football Conference (NFC) and won't play this weekend, when there are four first-round games. Top seed The Patriots, with a 13-3 record, are the top seed in the American Football Conference and have 7-2 odds of winning the Super Bowl, according to the Las Vegas Hilton's Race and Sports Book. Like New Orleans, the Patriots — behind quarterback Tom Brady — didn't lose in the second half of the season. The Saints have better championship odds than the other two teams with first-round byes: the Baltimore Ravens at 6-1 and the San Francisco 49ers at 12-1. The 49ers (13-3) got the No. 2 seed in the NFC ahead of the Saints because they had a better record against conference opponents. While San Francisco has a week off, the Saints prepare to host the Detroit Lions on January 7 at the Superdome. New Orleans is listed as a 10 1/2-point favourite against the Lions, who surrendered 480 passing yards and six touchdowns to Packers backup quarterback Matt Flynn in losing their regular-season finale 45-41. The Saints beat Detroit 31-17 at home on Dec-ember 4.