The 2010 NFL season has been one of the more difficult football betting seasons for handicappers, as there has been a multitude of surprises. Whether it has been historically awful teams overachieving, or Super Bowl championship jinxes, NFL betting lines have been all over the place this season. Here are some of the biggest surprises of the early season.

• What’s Up With New Orleans? – The 2010 defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints, have been one of the biggest surprises of the early season. Who would have thought, returning with exactly the same roster as the one that went 13 and three in the regular season of 2009 and hoisted the 2010 Super Bowl, would go through such struggles.

This time last year, they were undefeated, and along with eventual Super Bowl runner up Indianapolis, looked pretty much untouchable. This year, the Saints are at four and two which isn’t exactly worrisome. However, when you lose by 10 points to a poor Arizona team in week four, people will be talking.

• Minnesota Is Terrible – Last season, the Vikings lost by a field goal with seconds remaining in their NFC finals matchup against the Saints. As a result, many speculated that was the last we would see of Brett Favre. Another missed training camp and possible sex scandal later, and we now have a Vikings team that looks more like the one before Favre arrived. What’s worse, although they are one and one with new old wide out Randy Moss in town, the Vikings offense has been atrocious.

• Never Fear The Steelers Are Here - Going into the 2010/2011 NFL season, many handicappers pretty much wrote off the Pittsburgh Steelers as a legitimate threat to challenge for the Super Bowl. Who could blame them? Last season, the Steelers struggled mightily and failed to reach the post season. Making matters worse, they traded former Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes to the Jets and Big Ben was suspended for four games.

Three quarterbacks in three weeks and a bye later and Big Ben returned last week to a three and one Steelers squad. With Big Ben looking like he hasn’t been gone all season, albeit against the Browns, the Pittsburgh Steelers may be the best team in the NFL and win another Super Bowl this decade.