Super Bowl party props sheet: Compete to win (2024)

LAS VEGAS — The NFL has a repeat champion for the first time in 19 years. The Kansas City Chiefs, with a third Super Bowl triumph in five seasons, cemented the league’s modern-day dynasty with a 25-22 overtime win against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

This one, the same as the last two for Kansas City and its superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes, came with a stirring second-half comeback and, this time, with some late heroics in overtime.

Jake Moody’s 27-yard field goal on the first possession of overtime put the 49ers ahead 22-19, but the Chiefs responded with a 13-play, 75-yard drive and won it on 3-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to Mecole Hardman.

It was but the latest must-have drive for Kansas City, a team that has built a reputation behind Mahomes as most dangerous when holding the ball last. The Chiefs trailed 19-16 with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter when they marched 75 yards in 11 plays and Harrison Butker kicked a 29-yard field goal. The key play on the drive came on a third-and-7 with 16 seconds left, when Patrick Mahomes hit Travis Kelce on a crosser for a 22-yard gain that set the Chiefs up for the easy kick.

It’s the fourth Super Bowl win for the Chiefs franchise and the third for the team under coach Andy Reid, who joins Bill Walsh and Joe Gibbs in a tie for third-most all-time. Only Bill Belichick (six) and Chuck Noll (four) have more.

“The number three is a big number in terms of dynasties,” tight end Travis Kelce said this week, adding that he wanted to win this Super Bowl more than any of the previous three he’d played in. Three titles in a five-year window puts the Chiefs in a different conversation, one that includes some of the greatest runs in league history.

Mahomes earned his third Super Bowl MVP going 34-of-46 passing for 333 yards, two touchdowns and one interception resulting in a 99.3 passer rating.

The championship also elevates Mahomes — a remarkable 15-3 in the playoffs in his six-year career — into elite company: he’s now one of five quarterbacks in league history to win at least three Super Bowls, joining Tom Brady (seven), Joe Montana (four), Terry Bradshaw (four) and Troy Aikman (three). Aikman and Mahomes, 28, are the only ones of the group to win three before their 30th birthday. Across the last two postseasons, Mahomes has gone 7-0, throwing 13 touchdowns and just one interception.

It’s a devastating defeat for the 49ers, and particularly coach Kyle Shanahan, who adds another chapter of Super Bowl heartache to what’s otherwise been a stellar career. As Atlanta’s offensive coordinator in 2017, Shanahan was on the wrong side of the biggest blown lead in Super Bowl history, when the Patriots rallied from a 28-3 third-quarter deficit to stun the Falcons in the only other championship game to go to overtime. Sunday’s loss is Shanahan’s second as a head coach in the Super Bowl; four years ago, the 49ers blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV, eventually losing 31-20.

San Francisco’s championship drought is now at 29 seasons.

Read more here.

In what has become an annual tradition here at The Athletic, we have set before you our party prop sheet for Super Bowl LVIII. After having produced this sheet for your consumption the past three years, you may feel like you know what to expect at this point. But you’d be wrong.

This year’s party prop sheet is bigger and better than ever before — Taylor Swift, Las Vegas, more questions, and, most notably, an ability to fill your picks out within this column, have your answers tracked by us and your results sent to you via email when the game is over! The top 10 scores will get a one-year gift subscription to The Athletic on us (the details and terms of that are here).

The idea here is to deliver something that is not too complicated and asks the type of questions that can be answered fairly easily even in a crowded room of partygoers — in other words, no props where you have to count the number of times an announcer says a certain word, or how many times something about a player is mentioned, etc. And we make sure to incorporate the pomp and circ*mstance around the game — did I mention Taylor Swift? — to better appease the football agnostics of the group. As I always say, the Super Bowl tends to bring out the one-timers, just like church on Christmas — of course, we can’t ignore that this whole spectacle is still about crowning this NFL season’s champion, so there’s plenty of questions about the game itself.

With that said, here is our prop sheet for Super Bowl LVIII, some that I’ve made up or re-shaped from real props, some that were the inspiration of our editorial director (and party prop sheet kindred spirit) Oskar Garcia, along with some commentary along the way to help add context. If you want to use it for your own Super Bowl plans, we’re again offering a PDF that you can download and print out (or email to friends and family to play along with). But if you want to take things to the next level, we encourage you to give the online Q&A form (another hat tip to Oskar!) at the link a try!

Fill it out here.

Saturday is the day players from both the Chiefs and 49ers wanted to arrive. All week they’ve been at their hotels locked in, away from the world. A break is here. Many of them will get to spend the day with friends and family.

Almost there …

Each year at this time, I ask a collection of NFL coaches which team they are picking to win the Super Bowl and why. Our panel fared pretty well last season, with the first coach correctly picking the Chiefs to win by three.

Four coaches weighed in with predictions this year.

Defensive coordinator No. 1

This is going to be a really interesting game because (Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) has that defense rolling, and I think it’s going to create problems. They’ll be able to get after Brock Purdy. Spags will come with some good schemes to at least make Purdy think, throw his rhythm off.

The 49ers, that whole team is built off a front-running mentality. When they play with a lead, they just pounce and they’re better, they’re more athletic, their talent shines. When they play from behind, it is usually different. Against Detroit, they came back. I’ll give them credit there, but Detroit royally screwed that up. What happened was not repeatable.

What you have to do with the 49ers is match them early. I would take the ball and try to score. Green Bay did that. I know it is only 7-0 early and doesn’t matter, but if you score early, you are not in response to them.

(Patrick) Mahomes will make the right plays when they need to. He’s been protecting the ball, which he hadn’t been doing the first half of the season as much. People have to honor Rashee Rice now. He has developed. MVS (Marquez Valdes-Scantling) has become more consistent.

The 49ers’ defense has shown throughout the playoffs they’ll get the ball moved on them. They don’t have many answers. You hit their soft spots and don’t let their rushers get going and they don’t get takeaways, you are fine. The coverage system isn’t elaborate. They’ve got one good corner, one safety playing really well.

When you have a guy like Andy Reid over there with Patrick Mahomes, they’re going to find those soft spots. Andy is OK taking 5 (yards) from Travis Kelce on a catch-and-run. It’s just hard to go against Reid and Mahomes.

Read the other predictions here.

First the practice fields, then the fire alarms. After grinding through 20 games to make it to the Super Bowl, the San Francisco 49ers may be facing their wiliest opponent yet as they prepare for the Kansas City Chiefs — some early morning Las Vegas hijinks.

On Thursday, 49ers players were awoken early by a 6 a.m. fire alarm at the team hotel, ripping them from their sleep and souring a few moods. George Kittle, who said he was awoken seven minutes before his alarm was set to go off, said All-Pro teammates Christian McCaffrey and Nick Bosa were the most crotchety about the disruption.

“It had to be them,” Kittle said when asked about it later in the day. “You don’t want to wake the sleeping bear. But Christian was not happy too.”

The 49ers’ fervor for routine has been well-noted throughout the season, and McCaffrey was quick to suggest the fire alarm wasn’t a mistake.

“I think there’s no way it’s random,” he said. “It’s part of it. It’s just more wood thrown on the fire.”

Bosa doubled down on that take, saying “I’m sure somebody did it.” The defensive end went on to reference a similar incident in Philadelphia, where his sleep was disrupted by a construction crew working late into the night near the team’s hotel.

“A fire alarm going off at six in the morning? For what? I didn’t understand that,” star wide receiver Deebo Samuel said. “That s— kind of pissed me off. I’m not lying.”

Read more here.

Grammy-winning artist Usher will perform the Super Bowl LVIII halftime show at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

“It’s an honor of a lifetime to finally check a Super Bowl performance off my bucket list. I can’t wait to bring the world a show unlike anything else they’ve seen from me before,” Usher said in a statement. “Thank you to the fans and everyone who made this opportunity happen. I’ll see you real soon.”

This marks Usher’s second Super Bowl halftime show appearance after he performed alongside the Black Eyed Peas when the group headlined the show in 2011. The eight-time Grammy winner recently finished his “My Way The Las Vegas Residency.” Usher is known for hits like “OMG,” “Yeah!” and “U Remind Me,” and his 2004 album, “Confessions,” reached diamond status.

Usher follows Rihanna, who headlined last year’s Super Bowl halftime show with an explosive 12-song set on platforms hanging from the ceiling of State Farm Stadium in Arizona. Rihanna, clad in a bold red outfit, confirmed she was pregnant with her second child during her iconic performance. She sang a variety of her hits during the show like “Umbrella,” “Diamonds,” “We Found Love” and “Where Have You Been.”

Follow The Athletic's Super Bowl halftime blog here.

With the NFL world descending Las Vegas, which is regarded as the gambling capital of the world, league officials have aimed to maintain a vigilant approach to protecting the integrity of the game while also working to encourage responsible betting practices among fans.

The league has a strong policy that bars players, team personnel and NFL employees from betting on NFL games. And members of the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs are prohibited from betting of any kind in the lead up to the Super Bowl, which also means they’re not allowed to visit casinos even for non-sports gambling purposes while in Las Vegas.

“The rules are no different for the participating teams’ players and other personnel as they would be for any other game: when on business, there is no gambling, whether it be sports gambling or otherwise,” Jeff Miller, the NFL executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy, said in a conference call last week. “And any player, coach, personnel, yours truly, who would be caught or identified gambling at a casino would be eligible for the disciplinary process, and that would be addressed in the normal course of discipline as we would any player or other personnel who there was evidence that was violating the rules around gambling.”

The league had informed players of teams other than the Super Bowl participants that they are allowed to gamble — but not on NFL games.

The Chiefs and 49ers are staying roughly 45 minutes from the Las Vegas Strip, but league officials said that wasn’t necessarily to ensure players weren’t tempted to frequent casinos. It’s common practice that the Super Bowl teams set up headquarters for the week outside of the host city to guard against distraction and to ensure they have enough space for their day-to-day operations and preparations.

LAS VEGAS — The 49ers have more ways to win the Super Bowl on Sunday than they did in this same game four years ago, which is only relevant because they’re playing against the same team, with the same GOAT-mode quarterback, same spectacular tight end and same Hall of Fame coach.

But the 49ers have Brock Purdy at QB now, not Jimmy Garoppolo, and they have Christian McCaffrey at running back, not anybody else in the universe. I think that’s the difference. Even though it feels far too simple, and even though Patrick Mahomes is a winning formula all by himself in almost any game, especially the biggest ones (especially-especially the one four years ago in South Florida), I think the 49ers had everything else they needed to beat the Kansas City Chiefs back then except the right QB and RB.

And now, I’m presuming they have both.

There are, of course, dozens of other important aspects of Super Bowl LVIII — many of them pointing toward advantages for the Chiefs. All factors are important. The Chiefs, quite frankly, have looked much better and tougher during their three-game run through the AFC postseason, matched against better foes, than the 49ers looked in their two shaky victories against lesser-talented teams in the NFC tournament.

Also, it’s potentially foolhardy to put too much emphasis on a game four years ago, under different circ*mstances and with only a handful of the same players that will suit up at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday. It’s a small and old sample size that I’m using here, admittedly. It could be wildly misleading. Fate and fortune might really be pointing to Travis Kelce earning the Super Bowl MVP award and inviting his fairly famous friend onto the postgame stage.

However … back in February 2020, the 49ers had one way to beat the Chiefs that evening at Hard Rock Stadium: Run the ball, swarm and confuse Mahomes, and hold on tight. And the 49ers were up 20-10 with just a half-quarter to go, having run it 20 times for 119 yards and thrown it 22 times for 201 through the start of the Chiefs’ rally. But when Mahomes got things going with the epic long shot to Tyreek Hill on third-and-15 midway through the fourth quarter, which started to yank the game off of the 49ers’ script, the 49ers couldn’t find another way. The 49ers, in fact, looked absolutely lost for the final seven-plus minutes.

Can they win a game just by running it now? Well, they’ve got McCaffrey, this season’s NFL Offensive Player of the Year, to carry it 20 to 25 times, so I think the 49ers’ chances of running to win are even better. The 49ers also can give it to Deebo Samuel, who was a rookie four years ago. If that’s what Shanahan wants to do against a vulnerable Chiefs running defense, he can run it a ton. Or that might be what he wants the Chiefs to think he’ll do.

Prediction: 49ers 31, Chiefs 27.

Read more here.

Have the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs traded places since their title matchup in Miami to close the 2019 season?

The team with the prolific offense ultimately beat the team with the better defense in the 49ers-Chiefs pairing at Super Bowl LIV, played four years ago.

Kansas City won, 31-20, behind a 21-0 fourth-quarter flurry that erased a 10-point 49ers lead. For over three quarters, San Francisco’s No. 2-ranked defense kept a lid on Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his cohorts, but Kansas City’s high-powered attack proved too overwhelming down the stretch.

Entering this rematch in Super Bowl LVIII, though, the 49ers are actually more statistically resemblant of that 2019 Chiefs team, while Kansas City’s profile — less explosive, but more balanced — looks much more like San Francisco’s used to.

The 49ers’ offense ranks No. 1 DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average), and its explosive pass rate, 21.4 percent, also tops the NFL.

Meanwhile, this season’s Chiefs have languished at No. 24 — 12.3 percent — in explosive pass rate. It hasn’t been much better in the playoffs, where Kansas City has delivered an explosive pass rate of just 13.6 percent.

Tyreek Hill and Sammy Watkins, the leading wide receivers of the 2019 team that was able to ultimately blow the lid off the 49ers’ defense, are both gone. Mahomes has still managed to efficiently guide the Chiefs, thanks largely to the fact that Travis Kelce — his favorite target in both 2019 and 2023 — is still around. Despite significant midseason drop issues from receivers, Kansas City’s pass offense ranks No. 8 in DVOA, and Mahomes certainly brought stability to playoff games that his QB counterparts on the AFC side of the bracket were unable to match.

The Chiefs also seem to have a more punishing run game than before thanks to second-year back Isiah Pacheco, who gave the 49ers some problems during Kansas City’s 44-23 regular-season victory at Levi’s Stadium in 2022.

“We’ve said all week we need to gang tackle this guy,” 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks said Friday. “Because he’s not going to go down on first contact.”

Continue reading.

Fans thinking of going to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl should prepare for a case of sticker shock if they haven’t already purchased tickets.

Prices for Sunday's game are the most expensive on record. Just getting inside Allegiant Stadium to see the Kansas City Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers will cost around $8,000 for a single ticket, which is 35 percent more expensive than the $5,997 “get-in” price of the Super Bowl this time last year, according to data from TickPick, an online ticket marketplace.

The average purchase price of Super Bowl tickets listed on TickPick is $9,804 – 69 percent more expensive than last season’s championship, which saw an average price of $5,795. Data from StubHub indicates the average price of tickets sold on its marketplace is $9,300, though StubHub buyers will incur a fulfillment and service fee that was in the low thousands as of Wednesday.

StubHub’s data shows buyers from California account for 26 percent of all tickets sold. Nevada is next at 8 percent, followed by Kansas/Missouri at 7 percent.

The fact that Sin City is playing host to the largest football game in the country for the first time is a big factor driving demand, but scarcity is also playing a part, TickPick vice president of growth Matt Ferrel said. Allegiant Stadium has 65,000 seats, which ranks 27th among the 32 NFL stadiums by capacity.

Continue reading.

The bar for excellence required has been established. Who from the 49ers will meet it?

Their options are why they’re here. Christian McCaffrey, the newly minted Offensive Player of the Year. Brock Purdy’s entire career thus far is improbable, and one more such performance would fit his story. Who’d be surprised if Nick Bosa or Fred Warner or George Kittle or Brandon Aiyuk were spectacular enough to shift the outcome in San Francisco’s favor? Winning, in all likelihood, demands someone comes out of this a 49ers legend.

Deebo Samuel not only fits the mold, he wants it to be him.

“He’s lightning in a bottle,” offensive tackle Trent Williams said of Deebo. “Any time he touches the ball, he can go to the crib. Don’t matter if it’s preseason or Super Bowl. Any game. In any game, you’ve got 19 and you can get him the ball, most likely he’s gon’ make something happen.”

Also, Samuel is due.

He scored eight touchdowns in a four-week stretch, including three in a Week 13 win in Philadelphia that was critical in their ascent to the NFC’s No. 1 seed. It was peak Deebo, mashing on the gas to accelerate the 49ers.

But he has only one touchdown over the last five games, including the postseason — and that was against a listless Washington squad in Week 17. He’s been dealing with a shoulder injury this postseason, which knocked him out early in the divisional round. He played through it in the NFC Championship Game and has had two weeks to heal.

Read more here.

Weather won't be an issue come kickoff on Sunday with Allegiant Stadium indoors, but Saturday is a popular day to be out and about in Las Vegas during Super Bowl LVIII weekend.

Expect partly cloudy skies and high temperatures of around 50 degrees with a low of 34 degrees on Saturday. It could be a little windy as well with 15 to 25 mph gusts.

Sunday is expected to be sunny in Las Vegas with similar temperatures.

The 49ers basically don’t have an injury report for the Super Bowl. TE George Kittle, DT Arik Armstead, LB Oren Burks and CB Ambry Thomas are all fully clear.

That is remarkable.

As expected, the Chiefs will not play in Sunday's Super Bowl with All-Pro left guard Joe Thuney, who didn't practice this week because an injury to his pectoral muscle. In Thuney's place will be five-year veteran Nick Allegretti, who performed well in his previous start against the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship Game.

The Chiefs could get a boost on offense if running back Jerick McKinnon, who returned to practice this week after having surgery in early January to repair his core muscle. McKinnon is listed as questionable.

We all knew this was going to happen. Sooner or later the Kansas City Chiefs would make one too many appearances on the NFL’s late January/early February playoff dance card, and that’s when football fans who don’t live within 400 miles of Arrowhead Stadium would scream they’ve had quite enough of Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, Travis Kelce and, of course, Taylor Swift.

The Chiefs have played in six consecutive editions of the AFC Championship Game, including their 17-10 victory over the Baltimore Ravens a couple of weeks ago. When they meet the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII Sunday night, it’ll be their fourth appearance in five years in pro football’s Big Game. As such, the Chiefs are closing in on the 21st-century New England Patriots, who won six Super Bowls and at one point made eight consecutive trips to the AFC Championship Game.

And we all know how everyone feels about the New England Patriots.

Everyone hates the Patriots is how everyone feels. The Pats gave us Spygate. They gave us Deflategate. They gave us a coach, Bill Belichick, who for 24 seasons mumbled his way through news conferences and halftime interviews. They gave us a quarterback, Tom Brady, who was perceived as an entitled pretty boy who expected to get all the calls. That the Patriots delivered some of the most electrifying moments in Super Bowl history — the final drive against the St. Louis Rams after Brady opted not to take a knee, Malcolm Butler’s miracle interception against the Seattle Seahawks, the epic comeback from 28-3 against the Atlanta Falcons — is beside the point. Everyone hates the Patriots. It was in this spirit that so many people derived great joy in seeing Belichick fail to land another head coaching gig after “parting ways” with the Patriots last month.

If CNN analyst (and Boston native) John King were to go to the Magic Board and highlight the states whose fans would root for the Pats to win another Super Bowl, only Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Rhode Island would light up. (And possibly Connecticut, except that many fans south of Hartford root for the Giants. The Jets, a Ralph Nader-like third-party candidate, would pull in about 4 percent of the Connecticut vote.)

Now it’s the Chiefs’ turn to be the team everyone hates … except it’s not true. Oh, we’ll likely see this or that poll revealing that lots of otherwise neutral fans will be rooting for the 49ers and therefore against the Chiefs, but let’s have a grown-up discussion about this. Does anybody really hate the Chiefs, or is this no more than a familiar, time-worn talking point that gets rolled out whenever a team emerges as football’s latest … wait for it, wait for it … dynasty?

There’s nothing wrong with familiar, time-worn talking points. Without them, we wouldn’t have sports talk radio, and without sports talk radio we wouldn’t have ads for erectile dysfunction, hair restoration and weight loss plans. But I’ll ask the question again: Does anybody really hate the Chiefs?

Continue reading.

Here we are. It’s one day until Super Bowl 58, and everyone in your office is suddenly a “sports bettor.” The Super Bowl is the most bet-on sporting event in the U.S. every year, and while a lot of that action is due to sheer viewership numbers, it’s also thanks to the absolute smorgasbord of betting markets available to almost anyone with a smartphone (in certain states, of course).

Beyond the betting basics like spread, total and moneyline, there are tons of player props, novelty bets and live betting options for the Super Bowl. For serious bettors, it’s a chance to dig deep into player analysis, head-to-head comparisons, statistics and mathematical models to find an edge. And for casual fans, there’s no shortage of ways to put your pride on the line while you crush a bowl of cheese dip.

To help you fine-tune your bets or just to give you something smart to say at your Super Bowl party, we’re covering everything you need to know about Super Bowl betting. Our experts are adding more analysis every day leading up to the big event, and we’re consolidating all of it here. Feel free to bookmark this page for continued reference.

Stay tuned, have fun and may the odds be ever in your favor!

The San Francisco 49ers are slight favorites over the Kansas City Chiefs entering Sunday's Super Bowl, the first NFL championship game to be held in Las Vegas.

San Francisco seeks its first Super Bowl since 1995 and its sixth all time, which would put it in a tie with the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers for most in the NFL.

Kansas City aims to win its third in five years, cementing it as the NFL's newest dynasty — and putting quarterback Patrick Mahomes in rare company at the age of 28. With a win Sunday, Mahomes would become just the fifth starting quarterback with three Super Bowl rings, joining Tom Brady, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana and Troy Aikman.

Here's what to know.

How they got here

San Francisco: The 49ers went 12-5 in the regular season, earning the NFC's No. 1 seed. They then defeated the Green Bay Packers 24-21 and Detroit Lions 34-31 — coming from behind in both games — to reach the Super Bowl.

Kansas City: The Chiefs, as consistent as any franchise during the Mahomes era, actually experienced some struggles in the regular season, finishing 11-6 but winning the AFC West and the No. 3 seed in the playoffs. The team found its form in January, defeating the Miami Dolphins (26-7), Buffalo Bills (27-24) and Baltimore Ravens (17-10) in January.

How to watch

The game will be televised on CBS and Nickelodeon (more on that here) and is available to stream on Paramount+.

Kickoff time

Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. ET.

Odds

49ers -2

Related reading

• With latest Super Bowl run, Chiefs’ would-be dynasty echoes ‘Patriot Way’
• 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan, Brock Purdy can become an NFL power couple. They just need a ring
• NFL coaches pick the Super Bowl winner: Why they think Kansas City has the edge
• Live updates on the Usher halftime show, Taylor Swift's travel to the Super Bowl

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