Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are once again the frontrunners to win the Super Bowl, according to odds makers, reaffirming their status as the NFL's team to beat.
Caesars Sportsbook has set the Chiefs' Super Bowl odds at 6-1, as of Thursday morning, just hours before their season opener against the Detroit Lions. Mahomes is also a 6-1 favorite to clinch the regular-season MVP title. The Cincinnati Bengals' quarterback, Joe Burrow, follows closely at 7-1 in Caesars Sportsbook's MVP odds.
This marks the fourth time in the last five years that the Chiefs have kicked off the season as Super Bowl favorites at sportsbooks. Last year, the Buffalo Bills held that preseason title. Over the past two decades, only the New England Patriots (2007-11) and the Chiefs have been the preseason Super Bowl betting favorites in four out of five years.
The Chiefs' 6-1 odds for this season are consistent with previous years, three of which culminated in Super Bowl appearances, including two remarkable comeback victories led by Mahomes.
The Philadelphia Eagles, who lost to the Chiefs in the previous season's Super Bowl, boast the second-best title odds at sportsbooks for the upcoming season. Interestingly, the betting public strongly supports the Eagles, with more bets placed on them to win the Super Bowl at FanDuel than on any other team.
The San Francisco 49ers (9-1), Buffalo Bills (9-1), and Cincinnati Bengals (10-1) form the next group of Super Bowl contenders in Caesars Sportsbook's odds.
The New York Jets, who were longshots at 200-1 odds to win the Super Bowl last season, have significantly improved to 16-1 this year, thanks in part to quarterback Aaron Rodgers joining the team. The Jets have been a popular bet throughout the offseason, initially opening at 40-1. In fact, if the Jets do win the Super Bowl, it would cost Caesars Sportsbook more than any other team.
The largest Super Bowl wager placed this season at Caesars Sportsbook came from an unidentified bettor in Nevada who bet $20,000 on the Las Vegas Raiders at 40-1 odds. This bet could result in a net win of $800,000.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals have the longest Super Bowl odds, both hovering around 200-1. A bettor even placed an $89 wager on a Texans-Cardinals Super Bowl at 10,000-1 odds, according to a spokesperson from DraftKings.
In terms of division favorites, the San Francisco 49ers are strongly favored to win the NFC West with -185 odds. Other division favorites include the Jacksonville Jaguars (-175, AFC South), Kansas City Chiefs (-170, AFC West), and Philadelphia Eagles (-140, NFC East).
For their season opener against the Lions, the Chiefs initially opened as 4.5-point favorites, but the point spread dropped to Kansas City -6.5 during the week, following news of tight end Travis Kelce's knee injury in practice. Kelce is officially listed as questionable for the game.