New England Patriots are on to Super Bowl LIII

What an NFL conference championship weekend. Two overtime games. Two underdog winners. Plenty of drama, and unfortunately poor officiating. The four highest-scoring teams during the 2018 season made it to the conference championship games for the first time in NFL history. The Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots closed out the AFC Championship with fourth quarter fireworks in the freezing temperatures in Kansas City. Four lead changes in the final stanza that saw 38 points combined sent the game to overtime when the Chiefs kicked a last-second field goal to tie the contest 31-31.

But Tom Brady led the Patriots to their third straight Super Bowl with an opening overtime touchdown drive, capping off a 37-31 win for New England.
Brady will be shooting for his record 6th Super Bowl win on Feb. 3rd when the world championship descends on Atlanta.

Kansas City completed an excellent season, but are left unfulfilled after coming so close to a Super Bowl appearance. The Chiefs will no doubt be a Super Bowl 2020 contender as well, and are already favored to win the AFC Championship next year at +700 odds.

The Patriots are currently a 2-point favorite over the LA Rams on the very early Super Bowl LIII line, but this spread has been all over the map since last night. New England opened as a 1-point underdog, and were quickly bet to a small favorite. The total is set at 58 points, which will be a record if it stands. The 2017 Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons closed at 57.5, which was the highest over/under in Super Bowl history. It was also the only overtime game in Super Bowl history as the Patriots staged the most remarkable comeback in Super Bowl history to steal the overtime win 34-28. Sound familiar?

With U.S. legal sports betting now in eight states, the Super Bowl will set a record handle in the United States. Projections suggest more than $300 million will be bet legally in the U.S.market on Super Bowl LIII, and Nevada is expected to surpass last year’s record handle of $158.58 million. The total bet worldwide on Super Bowl Llll is expected to exceed $5 billion to break the $4.76 billion mark set in 2018.

Favorites in the Super Bowl are 34-18 SU, but New England lost last year’s Super Bowl as a 4.5-point favorite to the Philadelphia Eagles. Underdogs have won six of the last seven Super Bowls.

Super Bowl Llll is played in a dome at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. NFC teams are 15-4 SU in Super Bowls played in domes.
The Patriots are the first Super Bowl losing team to return to the Super Bowl the following season since 1992. The other team was the Buffalo Bills, who infamously lost four straight Super Bowls from 1990 to 1993.

As you might expect, tickets for Super Bowl LIII are going to be astronomical. A fan of the New England Patriots reportedly spent $180,685.44 on 8 seats at the 50-yard line. He'll likely be betting a good chunk the Patriots to win the Super Bowl as well.
You can bet on it.