Alternatively, if the Lions were to win 21-20, a 1 point margin, Lions bettors would lose, because the Lions didn’t win by more than 3. If Lions were to win 24-21, a 3 point margin, Lions bettors would win their wager. Since the Lions were favored by 2.5 points, you subtracted 2.5 points from their final scoring total for betting purposes. If betting the favorite in this example, the Lions had to win by 3 points or more in order for you to cash your bet. The Bears, the underdogs, were written as Chicago Bears +2.5. In this case, the Lions were installed as a 2.5-point favorite, commonly designated as Detroit Lions -2.5. Instead, the online sportsbooks established a point spread to make both teams equally attractive in the eyes of bettors. So, if all you had to do was pick the winning team, nearly every bettor would have taken the Lions.

The Lions had already beaten the Bears earlier in the season. Detroit was 9-8 on the season, while Chicago was just 3-14. There was little doubt that Detroit was the better of the two teams all anyone had to do was look at their records. Using an example from the NFL season, the Detroit Lions were hosting the Chicago Bears. Example Of What Does A Spread Of -2.5 Mean If all sports bettors had to do was to pick the winning team in a game, they’d all simply wager on the better team and collect their winnings more often than not. When two teams meet on the field or on court, one team is typically better than the other. For more on what Betting Against The Spread is click here. The other options is bet the underdog, meaning you are taking the team not expected to win and getting the points, having a “+” plus sign in front of their number (point spread).

You can either bet the favorite, meaning taking the team that is favored and will have a “-” minus sign in front of the number (point spread).

When betting the point spread you have two options.

Point spread nfl games explained