NFL experts have spoken and the majority of them are taking the Kansas City Chiefs over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before Super Bowl LV gets underway.
A survey of various analysts and panels show that despite the presence of the most decorated quarterback in NFL history on the side of the home team—and yes, Tampa Bay is playing at their home stadium in this rare Super Bowl—most are going with the NFL’s best young quarterback and the defending champs to repeat once again.
Over at ESPN, a total of 108 experts weighed in on who they believed would win and 81 of those polled (75 percent) sided with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs to lift the Lombardi Trophy on Sunday night. That left 27 of the experts going with Tom Brady and the Bucs. Sticking with ESPN for a minute, their Football Power Index (FPI) uses analytics as a predictor for NFL outcomes and even the numbers say the Chiefs are the likely team to win.
Over at Sports Illustrated/MMQB, the Chiefs were picked by seven of the eight experts to weigh in on the game’s outcome, with only Conor Orr picking the Bucs to beat the Chiefs in a close one-point victory.
Orr, like most who are siding with the Buccaneers at this point, are pointing to the war in the trenches as the difference here. The Chiefs have been working with a patchwork offensive front for the majority of the season (four starters of five are gone, and the lone one that is left was replaced at midseason for a spell to see if they could upgrade). On the other hand, the defensive front of the Buccaneers (along with their linebackers) are a formidable front seven. It’s going to be a real battle the entire game to protect Patrick Mahomes.
The Chiefs are heavily favored over the Buccaneers for Super Bowl LV.
Over at SB Nation, only two of 10 panelists are going with the Bucs. Meanwhile at Yahoo Sports, Eric Edholm was the lone voter for Tampa Bay among a panel of eight experts. Even simulations are going with the Chiefs as we saw from Madden ’21 earlier this week, when EA Sports simmed out the game and predicted the Chiefs would win by 10.
Of course, only time will tell whether or not the Chiefs will perform as expected. Anything can happen in a game like this, and Tom Brady has certainly proven he can perform under the lights like no one in NFL history. Can Andy Reid’s team defend their title? Can the Bucs topple the favorites? The experts have spoken but now the players will do the talking on Sunday night.