I think the actual point of a spread is to bring in as much money as possible. It's not about 50/50 betting, it's about getting as many people to bet on it as they can. So the packers give 5.5 to the Rams because a lot of people are going to look at that and think "No way the packers don't cream the rams so I gotta bet on this. It's easy money." The house believes there's a strong chance the rams cover that number, and help themselves by making the odds low so someone has to put a good bit of money to make any money on that cover. If the line is 7 then a lot more people just don't bet at all. They know GB is going to win this game, but they're not sure if they're going to win by 7.
It's actually pretty genius.
Also, picking winners is boring. I mean. Not many people think the Jets have any chance at winning, but a few more people think the Jets have a chance to stay with 11 points of New England. And that's just a bit more fun to figure out. All that said, I think I've spent about seventeen seconds total figuring my picks out each week and it totally shows.