In Super Bowl LIV on February 2 in Miami, the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs and NFC champion San Francisco 49ers will meet in a postseason game for the first time ever. The Chiefs are back in the big game for the first time in 50 years – that’s the longest time in between Super Bowl appearances in league history. The 49ers, meanwhile, look to tie the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers with a record sixth Super Bowl title.
Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
Kansas City opened as a 1.5-point favorite and all indications are that the early money is on Patrick Mahomes and Co. There have only been three other Super Bowls where the spread was 1.5 points or fewer. The last was SB XLIX when the Seattle Seahawks were -1 and lost to the New England Patriots 28-24 on a last-second interception at the Pats’ goal line.
The 49ers were not challenged in either of their two playoff games, easily handling both the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers. This will be the first time this postseason that San Francisco is an underdog. It has lost seven straight playoff games (1-6 ATS) as a dog away from home; obviously not a true road game, but Kansas City is the designated home team in Miami.
Kansas City, meanwhile, enters on an eight-game winning streak, covering the spread in all of those outings. The Chiefs have fallen down double digits in both playoff games but then rallied like gangbusters to win by 20 and 11 points, respectively, over the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans. Chiefs coach Andy Reid is one of the best in regular-season NFL history, but this is only the second time he has gotten a team to the Super Bowl. His Philadelphia Eagles lost to the Patriots in SB XXXIX in Jacksonville.
The Chiefs and 49ers did play in the 2019 preseason, with San Francisco winning 27-17 at Arrowhead Stadium on August 24. The teams last played a game that counted in Week 3 of the 2018 season. The Chiefs were 38-27 home winners behind 314 yards passing and three touchdowns from Mahomes. San Francisco quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo suffered a season-ending knee injury in the fourth quarter.
