There’s a new bet365 favorite to capture this year’s Super Bowl after the Green Bay Packers were eliminated in last weekend’s divisional round courtesy of a last-second field goal by the San Francisco 49ers.
That dramatic road victory sees the 49ers (10-7) advance to the NFC Conference Final where they’ll take on the Los Angeles Rams (12-5) in LA this Sunday, January 30th at 6:30 pm ET. San Francisco beat the Dallas Cowboys 23-17 in the first round of the postseason while the Rams handled the Arizona Cardinals 34-11. Los Angeles then got past the defending Super Bowl champions the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30-27 in Florida last weekend in a nail biter which was also decided on a last-second field goal.
San Francisco has beaten the Rams six straight times over the past three seasons so should enter the game as a confident group. This includes a 31-10 win this season in Week 10 action as well as a 27-24 thriller in overtime in Week 18 after trailing 17-3 at half time. Since 1970, 22 teams have won two regular-season games against an opponent and then met them in the playoffs with 14 of them going on to beat them for a third time. Los Angeles quarterback Matthew Stafford threw 17 interceptions this year with four of them coming against the 49ers. He’s been picked off five times in six career outings against San Francisco with the 49ers going 5-1 in those contests. San Francisco kicker Robbie Gould currently holds the league record for the most field goal attempts in playoff history without missing one as he’s been successful on all 20 tries. Rams’ kicker Matt Gay enters the game after converting 32 of his 34 field goal attempts this season for a success rate of 94.1 per cent to rank second in the league.
The AFC Conference Final pits the Cincinnati Bengals (10-7) at the Kansas City Chiefs (12-5) in the day’s first contest, which kicks off at 3:30 pm ET. The Bengals also advanced in dramatic fashion last weekend with a last-second field goal of their own in 19-16 away win over the Tennessee Titans. Cincinnati had managed to down the Las Vegas Raiders 26-19 in their playoff opener while Kansas City doubled the Pittsburgh Steelers 42-21 in their first playoff tilt. In last week’s most exciting clash, the Chiefs edged the Buffalo Bills 42-36 in overtime after trailing by seven points with just 13 seconds remaining in the game.
Bengals’ quarterback Joe Burrow enters the game with a 73.2 per cent pass-completion mark in his first two playoff games as he’s been successful on 52 of 71 attempts. This is the current NFL record for a quarterback in his first two career playoff contests with at least 50 pass attempts. Burrow is also the first quarterback in history to complete a minimum of 70 per cent of his pass attempts in each of his first two post season contests with a minimum of 10 pass attempts per game. However, he’s up against one of the best quarterbacks in the league in the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes who was brilliant in his team’s win over the Bills last week. On the other side of the coin, burrow was sacked nine times by the Titans last weekend.
Last weekend’s divisional games were the most exciting and memorable in recent history with all four outings going down to the wire. Three were decided by last-second field goals while the fourth went into overtime and this weekend’s showdowns could prove to be just as dramatic. The Bengals, Rams and Chiefs were all division winners during the regular season while the 49ers made the postseason as a wild card team.
The 49ers are an impressive 5-2 in Super Bowl appearances with wins in 1981, 1984, 1988, 1989 and 1994 and losses in 2012 and 2019. The Rams’ franchise is 1-3 in the NFL classic with a win in 1999 and losses in 1979, 2001 and 2018.
Kansas City won the Super Bowl in 2019 over San Francisco but were beaten by Tampa Bay in last season’s championship game. The club is 2-2 in Super Bowl games as they also lost in 1966 and won in 1969. Meanwhile, the Bengals are 0-2 in Super Bowl outings with defeats in 1981 and 1988.
The Chiefs are currently 7 point favorites over the Bengals this weekend while the Rams are 3.5 favorites over the 49ers.
As far as winning Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on Feb. 13th goes, the bet365 oddsmakers have listed the Kansas City Chiefs as the current favorites at +120 with Los Angeles Rams at +210, the San Francisco 49ers at +450 and the Cincinnati Bengals at +900.