A month into the season, with the New England Patriots off to a 1-3 start, sportsbooks had coach Bill Belichick as a 40-1 long shot to win coach of the year.
Two months later, Belichick is the consensus favorite and attracting a flurry of interest from bettors.
Belichick moved past Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury into the role of favorite this week at multiple sportsbooks, after New England attempted only three passes in a 14-10 win over the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football. Belichick is +125 to win the Associated Press’ Coach of the Year award at DraftKings, where there has been an influx of bets on him over the past month.
More than 75% of the bets on Belichick this season at DraftKings have been placed since Nov. 7. In recent weeks, for every bet on Kingsbury, the second-favorite at +250, there have been nearly 16 bets on Belichick. And at sportsbook PointsBet, Belichick has attracted twice as many bets and three times as much money as any other candidate.
Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur (+700), followed by Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel (+1,000) and Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor (+1,200).
The Patriots, who have won seven in a row, have climbed odds boards alongside their coach. New England, at 8-1, is tied for the fourth-best odds to win the Super Bowl at Caesars Sportsbook, and a Patriots-Buccaneers Super Bowl matchup is the most likely pairing, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index.