The most-heavily bet game of the day in Week 15, the Chiefs at the Saints, fell right on the line at most sportsbooks. What does that mean for bettors?

In two heavily bet Sunday NFL games, Kansas City at Miami and Green Bay at Detroit, late field goals allowed underdogs to close the point-spread gap and cover. In both cases, the decisions helped the books and worked against the public.

Putting an exclamation point on the NFL Week 13 losing day for the public was the Seattle Seahawks’ outright loss to the Giants, an outcome that tore up parlay betting and teaser tickets.

Starting with the postponement of the Ravens-Steelers game in Pittsburgh on Thanksgiving night (moved to Tuesday) and continuing through the devastation of the Denver quarterback corps a day later, the NFL struggled through its most difficult weekend so far because of COVID-19.

The betting public was demolished Sunday by NFL results as the heaviest betting favorites, such as the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots, lost both against the spread and outright. Even the totals for the Over/Unders largely came in at the Under, usually not a good outcome for the public.

Lem Banker, who died at 93, practiced his craft in pre-Internet days by gleaning intelligence from out-of-town newspapers and crunching numbers the old-fashioned way. That meant using paper and pencil rather than relying on esoteric algorithms and computer-generated simulations like some of the 21st century betting pros. He was noted for his gentle manner, friendliness and generosity.

While bettors will see some bad beats in the finishes of the Cardinals and Browns wins on Sunday, they were actually sound football plays for the teams.

The real story of parlay betting, especially as sports wagering spreads throughout the U.S., isn’t the entertaining tales of jackpot hits. Rather, it is that parlays are becoming an increasingly influential attraction within sports gambling. And the effects of that reality have yet to be realized.

Parlay bets, once thought to be longshots, are picking up steam as bettors get more creative. Just check out the NFL Week 9 recap. Parlays paid big.

Tonight’s Packers-49ers Thursday Night Football game in San Francisco is perhaps the most dramatic example yet in terms of COVID-19 impacting wagering. A game that 10 days ago was a pick ‘em now has Green Bay as a 7.5-point favorite.

In six Sunday NFL games that had inclement or cold weather reports pregame, the Over went 5-1. It was a rare instance of the bookmakers actually happy to see Overs come in, according to our NFL Week 8 betting recap.

A second bad loss for the New England Patriots signals that they are no longer a reliable NFL bet, and neither are the Dallas Cowboys. Check out On The Money, our NFL Week 7 recap.