David Purdum, ESPN staff writer
The San Francisco 49ers were installed as slight Super Bowl favorites against the Kansas City Chiefs, but the point spread dropped quickly at sportsbooks around the country on Sunday.
The 49ers opened as 2.5-point favorites on ESPN BET but dropped to -1.5 within 20 minutes of the line being posted and as low as -1 at some sportsbooks Sunday night.
If the line holds, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs will be underdogs for the third straight game. Kansas City is a ridiculous 9-3 in Mahomes’ starts.
The Chiefs entered the playoffs 10-1 to win the Super Bowl, their longest streak of the season. But Mahomes led another postseason run, pulling upsets against the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens.
The 49ers, the top seed in the NFC, were the consensus Super Bowl favorites when the tournament began. But they had to survive back-to-back upset bids by the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions.
The Niners fell behind the Lions 24-7 in the first half Sunday and were listed as 5-1 underdogs to come back and win the game. San Francisco rallied in the second half with quarterback Brock Purdy rallying to win 34-31. It was a costly return for the betting public who flocked to bet on the underdog Lions. Detroit on the money line was the most popular championship game bet at BetMGM sportsbooks.
Prior to the conference championship games, Caesars Sportsbook had the 49ers listed as 3-point favorites over the Chiefs in the Super Bowl matchup.
“The Niners won two nail-biting games at home, and the Chiefs defense played really well, especially today. They just shut out the Ravens,” said Adam Pullen, assistant director of business at Caesars Sportsbook. “That’s why we went down a little bit.”
Pullen said the 49ers would have been slight favorites against the Ravens, too, and he would have been surprised if the line moved enough to make the Chiefs favorites in the Super Bowl.
“I can’t see the Chiefs as favorites, but you never know,” Pullen said.
San Francisco opened at -130 on the money line, and the over/overall sits at 47.5 on ESPN BET.
The betting favorite has won 36 of 57 Super Bowls. Underdogs are 28-27-2 against the spread in Super Bowls. 28 unders, 27 overs and one punt, according to ESPN Stats and Information Research, with no overs/unders recorded in his first Super Bowl.