The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles will need to be on their toes before a ball is even thrown in this weekend’s hugely-anticipated showdown at the State Farm Stadium in Arizona.
While the betting couldn’t be much tighter ahead of the contest with the Chiefs priced up at 21/20 to collect a third world title, at narrowly longer odds than the 4/5 'Money Line' favourites from Philly, history suggests that the game could ultimately be determined by the winner of the coin toss (Even-Money for both teams).
Listen, we know how strange that may sound, but please bear with us…
Remarkably, for each of the past eight seasons, every team that has gone on to WIN the pre-game coin toss has ended up LOSING the main game itself.
The trend began at NFL Championship XLIX when NFC representatives Seattle Seahawks won the toss but lost the game to the New England Patriots as the iconic Tom Brady completed a total of 328 passing yards for four TD’s as he claimed a third big game MVP award.
Now, it doesn’t need us to tell you how articulate and forward-thinking the great Patriots head coach Bill Belicheck was, but surely even his quite remarkable foresight was unable to influence the Patriots decision to call heads on a day that the Seahawks inexplicably threw the game away a couple of hours after tails landed face up.
Since then, the curse has wreaked havoc with a plethora of other sides bidding to claim the biggest prize that American Football has to offer.
The Carolina Panthers (2016), Atlanta Falcons (2017), New England Patriots (2018 & 2019), San Francisco 49ers (2020), Kansas City Chiefs (2021) and Cincinnati Bengals (2022) having all fallen victim to it – taking the overall record of coin toss winners in the NFL Championship game to 24-32.
2023 NFL Championship Latest News
Betting tips, news, features and videos as the NFC and AFC champions collide in Arizona
There is no doubt that both the Chiefs and Eagles coaches and co-ordinators will have done everything in their power to ensure their sides are prepared adequately to capture the coveted Vince Lombardi trophy in the early hours of Monday morning.
But the simple matter is that it all may be irrelevant if they are to go on and win the toss itself (or more likely lose it!) at around 23:25 on Sunday.
All that said, it’s far from a given that history will be the enemy in this year’s NFL Championship game – especially from a Philadelphia Eagles perspective.
Philly supporters will be keeping everything crossed for a repeat of 2015 when they landed their first world title just a few months after the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and MLB’s Houston Astros reigned supreme in their championship games too.
And with lightning striking twice in the NBA and MLB in 2022, with both GSW and the Astros adding to their trophy-laden cabinets, maybe, just maybe, the NFL Championship is destined to head to Pennsylvania for a second time.
We’ve got a huge number of Bet Boosts, markets and props on site ahead of the big game so why not check them out.
And don’t forget we will be showing all of the action from the State Farm Arena to customers in the UK right here at bet365 (Live Streaming Rules apply).
Odds displayed within this article were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
