Should the 49ers be underdogs vs. the Chiefs in the Super Bowl?

The Chiefs are underdogs for their third consecutive matchup.

The San Francisco 49ers are entering Super Bowl weekend as two-point favorites over the Kansas City Chiefs, according to DraftKings Sportsbook, marking just the fourth time this season that quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be an underdog this season.

While the 49ers are the odds-on favorites, should they be perceived as underdogs against Mahomes and the Chiefs?

The video for the show is embedded above, while the audio is available below.

Betting against Patrick Mahomes has historically never been a good idea, as the Chiefs quarterback is 9-3 all-time when playing as the underdogs, which is the best record of all time, including 3-0 this season.

In fact, Mahomes and the Chiefs were underdogs against both the Buffalo Bills and the Baltimore Ravens, but ultimately pulled out victories in both games to reach the Super Bowl for the fourth time in the last five years.

They’ll now face arguably their toughest challenge of the season in the San Francisco 49ers, who have been favored in all 19 games they’ve played this season, which will likely extend to the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Looking at the historical numbers, teams that were underdogs in both the divisional round and conference championship, like the Chiefs were, have gone 6-2 in the Super Bowl, with seven of the eight teams also being underdogs in the final game.

Moreover, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has been 31-7 in his career while coming off a bye, although the Super Bowl presents for different circumstances.

How are the Chiefs looking at their underdog status?

“At the end of the day, it’s playoff games. You want to win. This is what you play for,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said earlier this week, “and I think that fire, regardless of if we were an underdog or not, would have been lit, because this is the time of year that you work for, and you put in those hard practices for.”

“I think we have that mindset that if we’re going to practice the way we do, and we work the way we work, we’re not going to let it slide. We’re going to maximize our opportunity every time we’re out there.”

Mahomes went further, adding that the underdog narrative is being overplayed, as both teams are strong football teams, hence their placement in the Super Bowl.

“The underdog thing, especially at this moment, I think is a little bit overplayed,” the superstar quarterback told the media Thursday, via 49ers on NBCS. “We’re two great football teams going up against each other. Someone’s got to be the underdog, and they’ve been a great football team all yearlong. So, they deserve to be the favorite in this game.”

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid chimed in on the topic, understanding why the Chiefs are perceived as underdogs, but feeling confident, nonetheless, about his team.

“I understand why we’re the underdog, I get that,” Reid said this week. “We had some ups and downs during the season. I never feel like an underdog going into a game. I understand why it’s been situated like that. It is what it is.”

The 49ers social media team shared an intriguing post last week, pointing out that San Francisco has gone against all odds, despite being favored in every game this season en route to the Super Bowl.

Now, the 49ers have fared well this season, although they are 9-10 against the spread and 0-2 in the postseason, and they’ll face one more tough challenge on Sunday when the Chiefs look to play spoiler for the second time.

They’ll do so with much of the world betting against them, however, as the Chiefs are receiving 79 percent of the against-the-spread (ATS) bets thus far.

Read More