NFL First Half Lines: How 1H Spreads and Totals Compare to the Full Game

Monday night's Bills at Vikings game has two sets of numbers on it. The full game is Bills -3.5 with a total of 44 to 44.5. The first half is Bills -1.5 to -2.5 with a 1H total of 22.5 at most books, as of Monday, November 9, 2026, 9:00 AM ET.

Those first half lines, the ones books label 1H, settle at halftime and ignore everything after it. Here is how to read NFL first half lines, what tonight's board looks like, and how 1H numbers compare to the full game across a full Sunday slate.

Bills vs Vikings first half lines for Monday Night Football

Every book has the Bills favored in the first half, as of Monday, November 9, 2026, 9:00 AM ET. Three of the seven books on SportsbookReview have Buffalo -2.5 and four have -1.5, and the 1H total is 22.5 at five of them, 21.5 at FanDuel and 22 at Caesars.

ScoresAndOdds' first half board showed the same -1.5 to -2.5 split across eight books.

If you want Minnesota in the first half, BetMGM, Fanatics and BetRivers give you the extra point at +2.5. Lines move, so check them before you bet, and compare books on our sportsbooks page.

The same math we use for full-game predictions works on a half. Take the 22.5 total and the Bills' 1.5-point edge at FanDuel, and the first half implies Bills 12, Vikings 10.5. The full-game numbers (Bills -3.5, total 44.5) imply Bills 24, Vikings 20.5, so the market expects almost exactly half the scoring before the break.

With the margin removed, FanDuel's first half moneyline (-150 / +124) gives Buffalo a 57.3% chance to lead at halftime, a bit under its 61.8% chance to win the game from the full-game moneyline (-180 / +152). The full-game spread moved from Bills -3 on Sunday night to -3.5 at every book Monday morning.

How NFL first half lines compare to the full game

To see how books build first half numbers, we lined up the pregame full-game and 1H lines for 13 Week 5 games on Sunday, October 11. Each number is the middle of the board across six or seven books on SportsbookReview, and the full-game spreads were checked against the VegasInsider board.

Where the middle fell between two numbers, both are shown. The Sunday night game was in progress when we pulled the board, so it is left out.

First half totals are almost exactly half

In all 13 games the 1H total landed within one point of half the full-game total, and on average it was 49.7% of it. The Lions and Cardinals had the biggest total at 55, and the first half was 27.5, exactly half.

The widest gap was Bears at Packers, where half of the 46.5 to 47 full total is about 23.4 and the 1H total sat at 22.5. If a 1H total at your book is more than a point off half the full total, it is worth a second look at the other books.

First half spreads are closer to two-thirds

This is where people guess wrong. Halving the full-game spread does not give you the 1H number. Across the 13 games, the first half spread averaged about 65% of the full-game spread. Dallas was -9.5 for the game and -6.5 for the half. Cincinnati was -6.5 and -4.5.

Seattle came in at exactly half, -3 for the game and -1.5 for the half, and Denver at -3.5 and -1.5 was the only game that came in under half.

Small favorites stop at 1.5

No first half spread in the sample was smaller than 1.5. Every game with a full-game spread of 3.5 or less had a 1H spread of 1.5 or 2.5, and Chicago was -1.5 for both the half and the game.

For bettors, that means a short favorite in the first half is usually laying 1.5 or 2.5, not a half point or a pick'em.

How to read an NFL 1H line

A first half spread works like a full-game spread: Bills -2.5 means the Bills need to lead by three or more at halftime. A first half total is over or under the combined points scored in the first and second quarters. A first half moneyline is a bet on who leads at the break. Two things trip people up.

First, a tie at halftime is a real possibility, so check how your book handles a tied half on a two-way moneyline; many return the stake as a push, and some also offer a three-way line where the tie is its own outcome. Second, a half-point on the line (2.5 instead of 3) means no push is possible.

For the full rulebook, including grading examples, read our guide to first half betting, and for why 3 and 7 matter so much, see NFL key numbers.

When NFL first half lines come out

Full-game NFL lines are usually up well before first half lines. As of Monday morning, November 9, SportsbookReview showed first half spreads for all 14 Week 10 games, but several books had not posted theirs yet, and Thursday's Commanders at Giants game had the most complete board.

Expect the gaps to fill in during the week, and expect the 1H numbers to move with the full-game line. The full-game Week 10 board is on our NFL Week 10 preview.

NFL first half lines questions

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