Chiefs Granted Big Advantage for Super Bowl Due to Technicality

The Super Bowl is fast approaching as the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles are hard at work trying to find any possible advantage they can gain over each other. There's still over a week until the Chiefs' bid at history, but even small edges can prove to be the difference in the end.

FanDuel Sportsbook has the Chiefs as 1.5-point favorites to hoist a third consecutive Lombardi Trophy, though those odds may not consider a factor that could let Andy Reid dictate the tempo of the matchup.

The Chiefs have a long history of winning coin tosses and deferring to the second half. Because Super Bowl LIX is an odd-numbered one, Kansas City will technically be the away team as the AFC representative. That gives them the right to call the toss and put pressure on Philadelphia from the very beginning of the game.

Should the contest go to overtime like last year's did, the Chiefs will call the toss then, too.

Chiefs Get Coin Toss Advantage in Super Bowl LIX

Winning coin tosses has become more important in recent years, particularly as teams have gotten wiser about deferring to the second half and the new overtime rules. Historically, teams that have won the toss have won just 27 of the 58 Super Bowls, though the Chiefs won the opening toss in each of the previous two. Prior to that, teams who lost the toss won eight consecutive Lombardi Trophies.

That said, there are numerous examples in recent history of coin tosses impacting Chiefs games. The San Francisco 49ers won the overtime toss last season but made the ill-fated decision to receive, falling exactly into Kansas City's hands. Even though the Chiefs were down 10 points at halftime against the Eagles two years ago, deferring to the second half allowed Patrick Mahomes to immediately lead a scoring drive to bring the deficit within three.

When the famous 13-second game went to overtime, the Chiefs won the toss and never allowed Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills to see the field again. They did the same thing against the Buccaneers in Week 9 of the regular season this year.

Every little advantage means something. The Chiefs obviously still have to win the toss, but they'd rather be the ones calling it in the air than letting the Eagles do it.

Perhaps this won't have an impact on the game. Should Kansas City win the toss yet again though, they'll automatically start the Super Bowl in a familiar spot with an edge over their opponent.

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