While we undoubtedly have a tremendous Super Bowl matchup on paper this season, as the San Francisco 49ers take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Feb. 11 in Las Vegas, the Super Bowl is about more than football. It’s an event.
The parties, the commercials, the incredible amount of prop bets ranging from touchdown scorers to the color of the Gatorade dumped on the winning coach, there is much more going on during the Super Bowl than during a regular football game.
With that being said, let’s take a look at the 10 most intriguing Super Bowl LVIII prop bets.
Patrick Mahomes o1.5 TD passes (-140, FanDuel)
Super Bowl LVIII will be Mahomes’ fourth Super Bowl appearance and he boasts a 2-1 record, picking up wins in Super Bowl LIV against the 49ers and Super Bowl LVII against the Philadelphia Eagles while taking a loss in Super Bowl LV to the Tampa Bay Buccanneers. In the two wins, Mahomes passed for two and three touchdowns, respectively. Tampa’s game plan of blitzing Mahomes on almost every play kept the quarterback off the scoreboard, but that feels like an outlier.
San Francisco’s defense has struggled a bit in the postseason. The 49ers allowed two touchdown passes to Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love, and while Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff had just one touchdown pass, the Lions compensated with three rushing scores, something Kansas City likely wouldn’t turn to as much.
Travis Kelce 25+ receiving yards in each half (+115, FanDuel)
If one thing is for sure at this point, the Chiefs will only go as far as Mahomes and Kelce take them. Kelce had a monster day in the AFC Championship win over the Baltimore Ravens, grabbing 11 receptions for 116 yards and a touchdown. If Kelce’s girlfriend Taylor Swift makes it to the game on time after her concert in Tokyo the night before, he’ll absolutely be looking to show out for her.
Christian McCaffrey anytime TD scorer (-220, FanDuel)
49ers running back Christian McCaffrey has played in 32 games for the 49ers since being traded from the Carolina Panthers early in the 2022-23 season. He has scored a touchdown in 26 of the games. Don’t overthink it.
Chris Jones u0.25 sacks (-150, DraftKings)
Two-time all-pro defensive tackle Chris Jones has been struggling of late for the Chiefs when it comes to getting sacks. He has just one half sack which came in Kansas City’s Wild Card win over the Miami Dolphins. Since then, Jones has struggled to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks, recording just one quarterback hit in Kansas City’s games against the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens. Adding to Jones’ potential troubles is the fact that fellow defensive lineman Charles Omenihu, who recorded a career-high 7.5 sacks this season, suffered a torn ACL against Baltimore, which could lead to double teams on Jones.
Largest lead of game u13.5 points (+114, DraftKings)
Very rarely in the past 20 years have we gotten blowouts in the Super Bowl. A few stand out, such as the Seattle Seahawks blowing past the Denver Broncos 43-8, in Super Bowl XLVII, the Atlanta Falcons holding a 28-3 lead over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI before blowing it, and Tampa’s aforementioned 31-9 win over the Chiefs. There’s no reason to believe this should not and will not be a close game throughout. A team taking a 10-point lead is reasonable but a two-touchdown lead for either side in this game seems too high.
Longest kickoff return u27.5 yards (-115 DraftKings)
Kick returns barely exist anymore. Everything just goes for a touchback. Niners kick returner Ray-Ray McCloud has returned just two kicks this postseason, one for 23 yards, and one for 28. Chiefs kick returner Richie James returned just one for 23 yards. In what should be a close game, it’s unlikely either side would want to take the chance with a kick return and we’ll likely see mostly touchbacks as usual.
No punt will result in a touchback (-182, FanDuel)
Chiefs punter Tommy Townsend and Niners punter Mitch Wishnowsky combined for just seven total touchbacks in 111 punt attempts. In a game like the Super Bowl, in any situation where you’d be close enough to get a touchback on a punt, you’d likely either go for it on fourth down or attempt a long field goal to get points.
Both teams will have a successful 4th down conversion (+310, FanDuel)
The game should be close throughout leading to ideal situations for either team to try and go for it. McCaffrey is a tremendous asset for the Niners in short situations because he’s equally capable as a rusher or receiver, and Kansas City seems to have a playbook full of Mahomes-to-Kelce play designs on fourth down as we’ve seen over and over.
Red Gatorade poured on Head Coach (+260, FanDuel)
Both teams have red as one of the primary colors in their logo. Don’t overthink it.
