Super Bowl 55 has already cemented itself in history before its first snap as the first home team playing the big game in their own stadium. It could prove to make even more history if Tom Brady wins his seventh title, surpassing Michael Jordan as the winningest athlete in the modern era. Meanwhile, Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid are looking to earn their second title between the two, establishing the beginning of a likely dynasty in Kansas City. Currently, 85% of bets are going on Kansas City. With the public and betting favorite being -3 on the spread to defeat the Bucs’ on home turf.
Since we’ll be diving into the more niche bets to place in this article, let’s take some time now to break down the spread and over/under. As it stands now, the Kansas City Chiefs are sitting as 3 point favorites with the over/under set at 56 points. The Chiefs covered in the conference round against the Bills and were just three points away from covering the previous week against the Browns.
I fully expect Kansas City to win this game because while they are certainly not unbeatable, they definitely have fewer holes than the Buccaneers do. If Kevin King actually knew how to play corner, it could be argued that this would be Packers vs. Chiefs instead of Tampa Bay being there. So I like the Chiefs to cover and expect both offenses to be firing on all cylinders, leading to an easy over bet as well.
No matter who wins or loses, this is the last opportunity of the football season to earn some money so without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the best bets you can place on this weekend’s big game. All odds are via BetOnline.ag, check out their website for some of the best deals and odds in online sports gambling.
Best Game Bets
Highest scoring half: 2nd half (-115)
In the past 10 years, there have only been three Super Bowls where the first half was the highest-scoring one. Two of those games featured the Legion of Boom Seattle defense and the Denver Broncos defense in Super Bowl 50 that was so good it made Brock Osweiler look like a capable starter.
While both of the Bucs and Chiefs defenses are talented, neither are on the level of those squads and likely won’t be able to make the key adjustments they made. Teams notoriously play conservatively in the first quarter of the Super Bowl and while both these offenses are highly explosive, I am expecting a high-scoring second half as they continue to attempt to keep up with one another.
Mike Evans 1+ touchdown (+110)
As a Mike Evans fantasy owner, I understand some may be skeptical about depending on him especially with your money. His boom or bust regular season should be treated as a distant memory though. Evans has scored in two of the three playoff games the Bucs have played and in the one game he didn’t score, he saw 10 targets and finished with 120 yards. With the exception of Tyrann Mathieu, no one in the Chiefs secondary really jumps out as an outstanding defender so it’s entirely possible that Evans manages to take advantage of some mismatches and find his way into the endzone.
Tom Brady over 2.5 passing touchdowns (+120)
When the Chiefs and Buccaneers played each other in Week 12 of the 2020 NFL season, Brady threw for three touchdowns, two interceptions, and 345 yards. I expect a near virtual repeat of that stat line for the Super Bowl. The Buccaneers rushing game is certainly effective but not the key piece of the offense. They will win or lose on the Tom Brady hill.
It’s also worth noting that the Chiefs ranked 7th best in rushing yards allowed per game this year and the only game where the Bucs had a rusher go for over 70 yards this postseason was against Washington. Tampa Bay is going to have to pass it a lot to stay in this game and that means this is a safe bet to make barring an unlikely disastrous Brady performance.
Best Prop Bets
National Anthem goes over 2 minutes (+110)
This is a historic Super Bowl not only because of it being the first home Super Bowl game in NFL history but it is also the first time the national anthem will be sung in a duet between Eric Church and Jazmine Sullivan. In the past 15 years, only six anthems have gone over two minutes. So why take the over here? First off, Eric Church historically likes to play the guitar when he performs the National Anthem, and secondly, and I cannot state this enough, it’s a duet. Are they going to trade off lyrics? Are they going to sing at the same time? No one knows. But each singer will definitely try to get their 5 minutes in there so I think this will for sure be going just over the two-minute mark.
Orange liquid will be dumped on the winning coach (+100)
Since Super Bowl 45, orange Gatorade (or whatever liquid is used) has been the most consistent color of liquid poured on the head coach making an appearance four times in the last 10 years. Other years have been all different types of colors. So what makes me so confident that it will be orange this year? As I stated in the intro, I think the Chiefs will win their second straight Super Bowl this weekend. What color was Andy Reid doused with last year? Orange. Case closed, prepare the orange Gatorade.
First Anheuser-Busch commercial will be for Bud Light (+120)
Look, I’m not one of these fake manly men who claim I only like beer and not these new seltzers that are becoming more and more popular. I like seltzers! You can find me in the summer hanging out in the pool with a lime White Claw, free of shame. But sometimes you just don’t mess with the classics. There is no way that the Clydesdale or typically out-there comedic commercial will take a back seat to Anheuser-Busch’s prime product: Bud Light. Does it taste like water that’s sat out in the sun for three days? Yep. Is it still their go-to product? For some reason, yes. There is simply no way that a Bud Light seltzer or Michelob Ultra gets the spotlight before Bud Light.
The Vince Lombardi Trophy. Photo Credit: Erik Drost | Under Creative Commons License