Super Bowl 55: Chiefs Favored Over Buccaneers as Brady, Mahomes Chase Legacy-Defining Wins

Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have a true home field advantage on Sunday, but it’s the Kansas City Chiefs who enter as the favorites to win Super Bowl 55.

DraftKings Sportsbook lists the Chiefs as a three-point favorite over the Bucs heading into Sunday.

Brady Far from Done at 43

Kansas City (16-2) put together a stellar regular season before reaching the Super Bowl with a commanding 38-24 victory over the Buffalo Bills. The Chiefs came into the season as the defending Super Bowl champions, and have the chance to become the first back-to-back winners since the New England Patriots pulled off that feat in 2003 and 2004.

Those two Patriots teams had a not-so-secret weapon in the form of quarterback Tom Brady, who won a total of six titles with New England. Brady has returned to the Super Bowl with Tampa Bay (14-5) with the chance to add to his already unparalleled legacy.

Winning another championship at age 43 might put Brady into a stratosphere that nobody can match. And he says that he might not be done just yet.

“I would definitely consider that,” Brady told reporters when asked if he might play until age 45 or beyond. “It’s a contact sport, there’s a lot of training that goes into it. It has to be a 100 percent commitment from myself to keep doing it…it’s going to be me continuing to make that commitment to making it part of my year-round process to play football and continue my career.”

Super Bowl 55 Could Add to Mahomes’ Legend

But what happens if Brady and the Buccaneers lose Super Bowl 55? That would give Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes two straight titles, including one over the consensus best signal caller ever to play the game. Mahomes stands to become the next generational quarterback in the NFL, and at just 25 years old, a second championship would put him well on his way to challenging for GOAT status by the end of his career.

“The goal is to win as many Super Bowls as possible and to be playing in this game every single year,” Mahomes told reporters. “I’m going to have that mindset every time I hit the field: I’m trying to get back in this game and I’m trying to win it.”

In a game that could feature plenty of scoring on both sides – DraftKings has set the total at 56 points – the quarterbacks are both strong picks to win MVP honors if they can lead their side to victory. Mahomes comes in as the -106 pick to win the award, with Brady at +190. Other than the quarterbacks, DraftKings lists only Tyreek Hill (+1200) and Travis Kelce (+1300) under +2500 to win the MVP award.

The public money has come in strongly on Kansas City — though some notably huge bets have been placed on Tampa Bay — with PointsBet reporting that 74 percent of bets and 88 percent of the total handle on the point spread is on the Chiefs.

But the Buccaneers will enjoy one advantage that few teams have had this year: playing at home, in front of a sizable crowd. 22,000 fans will sit in Raymond James Stadium for Super Bowl 55. That’s far short of the arena’s 75,000 capacity, but should still produce one of the loudest crowds heard all season long.