Heading into the Super Bowl LVIII matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs, the San Francisco 49ers opened as slight favorites to win the game on both FanDuel and DraftKings. But based on history, that might be a pretty grim omen for the team.
While the Kansas City Chiefs have not been underdogs all that often since Patrick Mahomes has emerged as the team’s starting quarterback, they have absolutely thrived in the role. In the 12 times that Mahomes and the Chiefs have been underdogs in a game in his career as a starter, the Chiefs are 10-1-1 against the spread and 9-3 overall.
More than that, Mahomes and the Chiefs have thrived as underdogs in their current NFL playoff run. The Chiefs were underdogs against the Buffalo Bills in the division round of the playoffs and then were underdogs in Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens. Obviously, the Chiefs won both contests to advance to the Super Bowl.
So while in most cases, it would be a good and optimistic thing for a team to be the betting favorite entering into a Super Bowl matchup, that might not be the case when you’re facing off against the Kansas City Chiefs given how dominant they’ve been in an underdog role with Mahomes as the team’s quarterback.
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