What Does a Negative Score Mean in Football? A Beginner‘s Guide to Understanding Point Spreads

Hey friend! If you‘re new to football betting, you‘ve probably noticed those confusing negative and positive numbers next to the teams. I know it can be intimidating at first, but don‘t worry – I‘m here to break it all down for you so you can understand what those points spreads mean.

The Basics: What the Minus and Plus Signs Indicate

The main thing to know is:

• A minus sign (-) means the team is the favorite

• A plus sign (+) means the team is the underdog

The number tells you the estimated margin of victory according to the oddsmakers.

Let‘s look at an example line:

Patriots -7.5

Broncos +7.5

This means the Patriots are 7.5 point favorites over the Broncos. The oddsmakers think the Patriots will win by around 7.5 points.

Easy enough so far, right? Now let‘s get into how to interpret the spreads when placing bets.

How Betting Point Spreads Works

Point spreads define how much a team must win or lose by for you to win your bet.

If you bet on the favorite:

• They must win by more than the point spread to "cover the spread"

• This is called covering the spread or just "covering"

If you bet on the underdog:

• They can either win the game outright

• Or, they can lose by less than the point spread

Let‘s walk through some hypothetical examples to see this in action.

Betting on the Favorite to Cover

Let‘s say you bet on the Patriots -7.5 against the Broncos.

For the Patriots bet to win, they‘d need to win by at least 8 points to cover the 7.5 point spread.

Some example outcomes:

• Patriots win 35-21 (+14 point margin) ✅ Patriots bet wins
• Patriots win 28-24 (+4 point margin) ❌ Patriots bet loses
• Patriots win 28-21 (+7 point margin) ⭕️ Bet is a push, wager returned

As you can see, the Patriots needed to exceed 7.5 points to cover.

Betting on the Underdog Against the Spread

Now let‘s flip it around and say you bet on the Broncos +7.5 as 7.5 point underdogs against the Patriots.

For the Broncos bet to win, they either need to:

• Win the game outright

OR

• Lose by no more than 7 points

Here are some examples:

• Broncos win 28-24 ✅ Broncos bet wins
• Broncos lose 28-27 (+1 point loss) ✅ Broncos bet wins
• Broncos lose 28-21 (+7 point loss) ⭕️ Bet is a push
• Broncos lose 35-21 (+14 point loss) ❌ Broncos bet loses

See how the underdog just needs to keep the game closer than the spread?

Why Betting the Spread is Popular

You‘re probably wondering why people don‘t just bet on which team will win the game.

Betting the spread makes games more interesting when one team is heavily favored. It essentially handicaps the better team and makes the underdog more competitive betting-wise.

It creates a challenge for the favorites to not just win, but dominate and cover the large point spreads. Underdogs have a shot to win bets if they can keep games competitive.

The spread helps balance action on both teams. That way sportsbooks take bets evenly on both sides.

Examples of Heavy Gameday Point Spreads

To give you an idea of big point spreads, here are some of the largest NFL spreads from the 2022 season:

Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Result
Chiefs	-12.5	Texans	Chiefs Won 30-24
Bills	-10	Steelers	Bills Won 38-3
49ers	-13.5	Panthers	49ers Won 37-15

As you can see, powerhouse teams like the Chiefs and Bills were still challenged to cover double digit spreads against weaker opponents.

Underdogs like the Steelers and Texans had a chance to keep things close thanks to the big points advantage they were getting.

Why Negative Point Totals Happen in Other Sports

You may be wondering if it‘s possible for NFL teams to actually finish with negative point totals.

The scoring system in football makes this impossible. But in sports like golf or auto racing, lower scores are better.

So the same spread concept applies, where the projected winner is given a negative score advantage over the underdog.

For example:

McIlroy -2.5

Woods +2.5

McIlroy would need to win the tournament with a score 2.5 strokes lower than Woods for bets on him to cash. Just like an NFL favorite needing to exceed the point spread.

Key Takeaways: How to Read Football Point Spreads

Hopefully this breakdown gives you a better grasp of what those point spreads mean and how to use them when betting on NFL games. Here are some key tips to remember:

• Minus sign (-) = the favorite

• Plus sign (+) = the underdog

• Favorites must exceed the spread to "cover"

• Underdogs can cover by winning outright or losing within the spread

• Large point spreads make betting more competitive

• Negative scores occur in sports like golf or racing where lower scores are better

Now that you‘ve got the basics down, you‘ll start feeling much more comfortable analyzing point spreads when you see them. Let me know if you have any other questions! I‘m always happy to help break down anything you need explained about football betting.