In one of the most eagerly anticipated Super Bowls in recent history, the Kansas City Chiefs put their title on the line against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in an encounter that brings together two of the very best quarterbacks in the NFL.
The Chiefs are seeking to become just the eighth franchise in league history to win back-to-back Super Bowls having beaten the San Francisco 49ers 12 months ago and enter this year’s renewal as 5/8 favourites following a near-flawless year. They went 14-2 through the regular season before knocking off Cleveland and Buffalo in the playoffs.
Looking to conquer Chiefs Kingdom is the Buccaneers, who went 11-5 in the regular season before storming to the NFC Championship with three straight road wins in Washington, New Orleans and Green Bay. Tampa Bay will become the first team in Super Bowl history to host the title-decider at their Raymond James Stadium and are 7/5 underdogs to capture the Vince Lombardi.
The Bucs are led by the ageless Tom Brady as he prepares to suit up for his 10th Super Bowl. Brady, a six-time Super Bowl winner, has produced one of the best seasons in Tampa Bay but now faces arguably the biggest challenge of his career in trying to outgun Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Mahomes vs Brady Part V: The Final Showdown
In a storyline straight from the pages of Hollywood, the decorated veteran faces off against the young upstart with the title on the line as Brady and Mahomes square off for the fifth time in their careers. The head-to-head series is level at 2-2 and Sunday’s encounter could prove to be the decider.
Brady could ride off into the sunset should he claim a seventh title, the 43-year-old having proved he doesn’t need to be in New England to be successful. Brady’s decision to leave the Patriots and join the Bucs last year has proven to be the right one and he’s transformed a franchise that hadn’t made the postseason for 12 years before he arrived.
Surrounded by an excellent cast of offensive talent, Brady has thrown for 47 touchdowns and 5493 yards to put the Buccaneers on the verge of just their second Super Bowl win. Brady has once again shown he knows how to get it done in the postseason, extending his record-breaking playoff TD tally to 80 this year. He’s 5/6 to have over 290.5 passing yards on Sunday and will certainly need to pass that mark to keep up with Mahomes, who is the 10/19 favourite to put up the most yards on the day.
Mahomes is the 10/11 favourite to collect the Super Bowl MVP prize for a second year in a row and with good reason after putting together another strong year. The 25-year-old also got the better of Brady when the two squared off in the regular season, leading the Chiefs to a 27-24 victory in Tampa as he threw for a season-high 462 yards and three touchdowns.
Bucs Still Can’t Catch the Cheetah
Mahomes’ main target in that win over the Bucs was Tyreek Hill, who had two touchdowns and 203 yards in the first quarter of the game alone. It is no surprise then to see the man nicknamed ‘The Cheetah’ sat atop the betting for touchdown scorers, alongside team mate Travis Kelce.
Kelce has enjoyed a remarkable year, setting an NFL record for receiving yards, and enters the game having scored touchdowns in his last six games. However, Hill appears to have an advantage over his team-mate when it comes to getting in the end zone this Sunday and holds more appeal than Kelce at 13/2 to score the first TD.
While the Bucs have guarded tight ends well, the same can’t be said for deep threats like Hill, who leads the Chiefs TD tally this year with 17 and has scored the game-opener three times in the current campaign.
On the Bucs side, a fit-again Antonio Brown might hold value at 23/10 to score at anytime. Brown was becoming a favourite target of Brady before suffering a knee injury, scoring in four straight games. He faces plenty of competition from the likes of Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Rob Gronkowski in terms of targets but will still pose the Chiefs a threat.
Chiefs Defence the Difference
For all the talk of quarterbacks and offences winning the day, it could be one of the two defences that ends up making the difference. The Buccaneers’ defence has made big plays right throughout their playoff run, recording seven sacks, five interceptions and five fumbles. Their pass-rush could give a patched up Chiefs offensive line some issues and the Bucs are 10/19 to have the most sacks in the game.
The star power of the Bucs defence somewhat overshadows the Chiefs unit but they have been a solid and dependable outfit for much of the year. The Chiefs ranked second against the pass this year and picked off Brady twice during their regular season match-up. Chris Jones could get to Brady against backup guard Aaron Stinnie, while Tyrann Mathieu could sneak into the MVP picture at 66/1 having made big splash plays all year.
In what will likely be a tight game, Mahomes and the big-play potential of the Chiefs defence could give them the edge to go back-to-back in Super Bowls and cover the three-point handicap at 25/27.
*All odds correct at time of writing
