Super Bowl Speculation, Part 1

The time is finally here. The Superb Owl, the competition for all the coconuts, and the final championship for the wretched 2020 professional sports year. Every pre-season favorite has won their respective Covid championships in 2020 (Lakers, Dodgers, Lightning).

Will the favorites sweep, with the Chiefs taking home their second championship in a row? Or will Tom Brady reiterate his legacy, taking a super team built around him to yet another Super Bowl, finally proving he isn’t a system QB?

I’ll get to the chase. I think the Chiefs cover -3, with Mahomes taking the torch from the last generation’s MVP to the new age. I’m so confident that the Chiefs steamroll the Bucs, I’ll also be taking Chiefs alternate line -14.5 (+375). Nobody became great by playing it safe, boys.

That isn’t the craziest take, the real questions are what happens between Sunday at 1pm to the finish line when you realize you have to fucking go to work tomorrow.

I’ll be eyeing in on my favorite pre-game, post-game and mid-game props today. Stay tuned for my player props article, which I’ll drop Sunday morning before the big day!

Game Props

Liquid Thrown on Winning Coach – Red (+300)

The move to this is to choose based on the team you think is going to win, and see what Gatorade they have been using all season. I am confident in my Chiefs pick, and they have used either orange, red or yellow all year, never blue or purple. Here is a handy list of the colors used for the past 9 Superb Owls.

You could arb your choices because they all have + money, but as for my pick I’m going with Red. It’s +300 (compared to +125 orange), making it good value with a decent chance it hits.

My second choice would be orange, because the Chiefs have used it this year and used it when they won Super Bowl 54 last year (which was also in Florida, I don’t know).

1st Scoring Play – Chiefs FG (+350)

Super Bowls are usually a little weird. It’s two team’s that usually don’t play each other because of the conference split, and the nerves tend to cause a slow start. I don’t see the Chiefs having an impossible time getting down the field, even with their All-Pro left tackle Eric Fisher out, but I do think the Bucs will be able to get an early stop to push a KC field goal. I’m not going with Tampa to score first because as we’ve seen, Kansas City has a formidable playoff pass defense and should be able to limit Tom Brady’s passing threat. Running takes awhile to get going, especially in a game like this, so unless Playoff Lenny arrives bright and early, I would favor the Chiefs here.

Most Penalty Yards – Buccaneers (+135)

It’s the biggest game of the year, on the biggest stage in maybe the entire world. The light’s shine bright, and many times cause errors teams aren’t prone to. While Tom Brady and Gronk have been here more times than I care to mention, the rest of the Buccaneers haven’t. The Chiefs on the other hand, are returning as champions and know what it takes to win as a team.

Yes, I expect there to be errors from Mike Remmers, who will be moving from right tackle to left tackle to shore up Mahomes’ blindside in lieu of Fisher’s injury. This is especially true considering the insane pressure the Buccaneers defensive line has been capable of recently.

Still, the Bucs will absolutely struggle to contain Kansas City’s firepower, and I fully expect the defensive interference penalties (and any late hits to the NFL’s new wonder boy) to more than make up for KC’s offensive line penalties.

Touchdowns Scored in 2nd Half/OT – OVER 3.5

Two touchdowns a piece sounds super reasonable, as does 3-1. Over the past 10 years, the first half/second half touchdown breakdown is 22-32, averaging 2.2 touchdowns per first half and 3.2 touchdowns per second half/OT. If you’re going to bet on a team to hit over on that, it’d have to be the Chiefs. An absolutely loaded Bucs offense led by King Clutch ain’t too bad either.

National Anthem Length – UNDER 1 minute 59 seconds (-140)

Country star Eric Church will be joining famed soul singer Jazmine Sullivan to sing this year’s National Anthem. He has spoken on the subject, saying he didn’t really want to until the Capital riots last month. That made him think about the power of showing unity, and him, a white man, and Sullivan, a black woman, have decided to sing as a duet to kick off the event watched across the nation.

Although you may think this could drag on the performance, with the two switching off and flexing their own styles, Church has said he wants to melody to drive their rendition. The song is in a different key than both singers natural octave, so I expect them to play it safe and offer a traditional, American as it gets rendition which falls short of the 2 minute mark.