NFL’s longest postseason favorites streak

For US sportsbooks, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes must be a living deity.

favorites in a playoff game for the 13th consecutive time

Fresh after ice-bloodedly saving his team on Sunday night — and leaving DraftKings and the like heaving a massive sign of relief as the only non-underdog to come through the NFL’s divisional playoffs — sportsbooks have backed Mahomes’ team again as favorites in a playoff game for the 13th consecutive time.

Making Mahomes’ team favorites to win Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals is a record breaker, giving the Chiefs the longest streak of being tipped to win in postseason history during the Super Bowl era.

Jeremy Cluff, social media sports reporter for AZ Central, shared via Twitter Tipico Sportsbook making the Chief’s 7.5-point favorites:

BetMGM mirrors Tipico’s odds on the Chiefs, while Caesars and DraftKings are half a point lighter at -7. Kansas City enters Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday on a run of seven consecutive overs, while Cincinnati arrives fueled by a 6-0 streak of beating the spread. The two franchises clashed this year for the first time since 2018 on January 2, with the Bengals emerging 34-31 victors.

Emotional rollercoaster rides

The Chiefs’ Sunday night win over the Buffallo Bills was an emotional rollercoaster, with The Guardian calling the explosive end of the fourth quarter “perhaps the most exhilarating two minutes the NFL has ever produced.” As regulation wound down, a two-minute span featured a tie and the lead changing three times. Quarterbacks Mahomes and the Bills’ Josh Allen combined for 221 passing yards and three touchdowns in the same span, which saw 25 points scored.

Making the record books for being favorite for a 13th straight playoff game isn’t the only record Kansas City has broken. When Mahomes connected with Travis Kelce in overtime to send Arrowhead into raptures, it set up a meeting with the Bengals, again at home in Kansas City.

The Chiefs took to Twitter on Monday to share that they will become the first franchise in NFL history to host four consecutive conference championship games.

Kansas City wouldn’t have reached these dizzying heights without their classy, never-say-die QB. On Sunday night, as the Bills were practically already celebrating, CBS’s Tony Romo at first jokingly posed “What can Patrick Mahomes do with 13 seconds left? Probably nothing.” Romo paused and then added, “But maybe something.”

Something special in the end, with two quick completions to set Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker up for the score to tie the game in regulation.

DraftKings got onto Twitter to reveal it had made Mahomes the head-and-shoulders favorite to win the Super Bowl’s MVP at +175.

BetMGM currently has the Chiefs as favorites to lift the Lombardi Trophy next month, coming in at +120.

Excitement building

Going into Sunday’s two championship games, BetMGM and DraftKings have the Rams as 3.5-point favorites to beat the 49ers. But you can’t count the 49ers out, as their win against the-then Super Bowl favorites Green Bay Packers proved.

As the weekend approaches, over in Louisiana there’s even more excitement than normal. While sources this week pointed to a likely launch of digital sports betting ahead of the playoffs, confirmation arrived today, as regulatory writer and editor at XLMedia Robert Linnehan shared via Twitter:

May the best teams, and the best bettors, win.