Super Bowl 55 odds: Chiefs open as slim favorites over Buccaneers

Super Bowl 55 is set with the Kansas City Chiefs meeting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the opening odds have the defending champs as slim favorites. 

With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers prevailing over Green Bay and the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs cruising past Buffalo, the Super Bowl LV matchup for Feb. 7 in Raymond James Stadium is now set. We’ll have an all-time quarterback matchup with the legendary Tom Brady, in his first year with the Bucs, taking on the brightest young star, Patrick Mahomes, and his club.

This is a historic matchup by any measure. Brady is searching for his seventh ring, Mahomes is searching for his second title in as many seasons, the Buccaneers are the first team ever to host a Super Bowl, and the list goes on. But with all that history, that gives oddsmakers a ton of factors to consider.

Now that the matchup is set, though, we have the opening Super Bowl LV odds. According to The Action Network, the Chiefs have opened as 3.5-point favorites over the Buccaneers. Moreover, the over/under total for the game is set at an alarmingly high 57.5:

https://twitter.com/ActionNetworkHQ/status/1353539046371323906

Since we’re still two weeks away, there are a number of things left to be considered before anyone starts making concrete bets on Super Bowl LV. Having said that, let’s break down the opening odds and give any early leans.

Early Super Bowl 55 leans for Chiefs vs. Buccaneers

The first thing that jumps out to me about the opening odds is the total. When the Chiefs and Buccaneers faced off in the regular season, the final score was 27-24. Both teams look different than they did in that game now but that’s still 6.5 points shy of the total. That’s undoubtedly notable.

Moreover, it’s fascinating that, despite having Brady in Tampa Bay and the Buccaneers getting to play the first-ever Super Bowl home game, the Chiefs are still 3.5-point favorites. It’s common practice for the home team to get roughly three points based on home-field advantage. But you have to wonder if oddsmakers have baked that into the Kansas City -3.5 line or not given that this is uncharted territory for the Super Bowl.

In any case, my early lean would still be to take the Chiefs -3.5. What they showed against Buffalo was nothing short of dominance, perhaps even more so than their run to the Lombardi Trophy last season. Even playing in Tampa, that doesn’t bode well for the Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV.