Super Bowl LIX is Less Than a Month Away; Who Will Win It?

The National Football League‘s (NFL) Super Bowl is more than an American football game; it is a global phenomenon. Millions of people worldwide tune into Super Bowl broadcasts each year, even if their team isn’t competing and they have no skin in the game. The next installment of this incredible game, Super Bowl LIX, kicks off on February 9 at the Caesars Superdome, home of the New Orleans Saints, and the race is on to become one of the two competing teams.

The 2024 NFL regular season and the wildcard round of the playoffs are done and dusted. Only eight franchises remain in contention for a place at Super Bowl LIX, and right now, the smart money is on the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions facing off in Louisiana. The Chiefs and the Lions are the best teams in the league. Still, they must navigate past challenging opponents in the divisional round (January 19) and progress from their respective conference championships (January 26).

Free-Scoring Lions Are the Super Bowl Favorites

There’s a saying in American football that defense wins you championships, but who needs a water-tight defense when you have a bulldozing offense like the Detroit Lions? The Lions are the perfect team for anyone spread betting online because they rack up points like they are going out of fashion. Throughout the 2024 regular season, the Lions offense scored a league-best 564 points and allowed opponents to score 342. That represents a points difference of 222. Only the Philadelphia Eagles (160) got anywhere near to matching that impressive number.

The Lions are one of only four teams to have never appeared in a Super Bowl; the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Houston Texans are the other three. They came close in 2023 but lost 31-34 to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game. Head coach Dan Campbell and his talented roster are determined to make amends for falling at last year’s final hurdle.

Quarterback Jared Goff threw 4,629 yards and 37 touchdowns over 17 regular season games. Wide receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams accumulated 1,263 and 1,001 receiving yards, respectively, while scoring a combined 19 touchdowns,

The Lions’s running game is also incredibly tough to stop. David Montgomery contributed with 775 yards and 12 touchdowns from 14 games, while Jahmyr Gibbs‘s 1,412 rushing yards were the fifth-best total in the league, and his 16 touchdowns tied him in first place.

Sixth-seed Washington Commanders await the Lions in the Divisional playoff, a game the Lions are expected to win easily. They then take on the winner of the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship. The Lions will appear in their first-ever Super Bowl if they win that game.

Kansas City Chiefs Looking to Create History

No NFL team has won three consecutive Super Bowls since the competition began. The Kansas City Chiefs have a chance to rewrite history in that regard. Last season, the Chiefs won back-to-back Super Bowls and entered this year’s playoffs with a superb 15-2 record, only matched by the Lions. Despite winning 15 of their 17 regular season fixtures, the Chiefs have not been overly convincing during this campaign. The Chiefs usually easily brush aside opponents, but they won seven of their games by two points or less, including needing overtime to see off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 9.

Superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes has not been his usual brilliant self. That sounds ridiculous when one considers he threw 3,928 yards and 26 touchdowns from 16 appearances. However, those numbers are the lowest of Mahomes’ professional career.

That said, writing off Mahomes and the Chiefs would be stupid because they know what it takes to get across the line and become NFL champions; they have a habit of turning on the style when needed. The Chiefs face fourth-seed Houston Texans in the Divisional round before taking on the winner of the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills clash.

Do Any Other Teams Come Into the Picture?

Many American football fans and pundits consider the playoffs a lottery because they are one-off games in which anything can happen. While it is highly probable that the Lions will navigate to their first-ever Super Bowl simply because their offense is far too hot to handle, the AFC side of the playoff bracket is much more challenging to predict.

As mentioned, the Chiefs are the bookmakers’ favorite to reach what would be their fifth Super Bowl in six seasons, but it is not as clear-cut as that. They must first beat the Houston Texans, who will do everything possible to progress to their maiden Super Bowl. The Chiefs will face the Baltimore Ravens or Buffalo Bills if they defeat Texas. The Ravens finished with a 12-5 record, while the Bills went 13-4.

The Ravens have reached two Super Bowls in their history, losing in 2000 and again in 2012. However, this Ravens team has Lamar Jackson pulling strings from the pocket, and he has enjoyed an excellent season that will likely see him finish second in the NFL’s Most Valuable Player race.

The Bills will see this latest playoff run as an opportunity to erase an unwanted record. Buffalo reached the Super Bowl in four straight seasons between 1990 and 1993 but lost all four fixtures. They share the unwanted record of Super Bowl appearances without a victory with the Minnesota Vikings. At times, NFL MVP-elect Josh Allen has almost single-handedly dragged the Bills over the finishing line, and everyone connected to the NFL believes it is Allen’s time to shine on American football’s biggest stage.

Although the odds suggest a Chiefs versus Lions clash at Super Bowl LIX, we have a sneaky feeling that it could be a Bills versus Lions battle. Who would win that particular match-up? Week 15 saw these teams face each other, and the Bills emerged 48-42 victors. Read into that what you will.