Super Bowl coin toss 2022 odds, pick: What to know about heads vs. tails prior to Rams vs. Bengals

Super Bowl LVI features the Cincinnati Bengals squaring off against the Los Angeles Rams for the right to be called NFL champions, and while hundreds of props will be settled by the action on the field, one of the most popular wagers of the day will have a result before the ball is even put into play. That's because a massive amount of attention is paid toward answering one simple question: Heads or tails?

You probably understand fundamentally that there's a 50 percent chance of each side coming up in the pregame Super Bowl coin toss each year. But that doesn't stop us from trying to get an edge any way we can. But is there really an edge to exploit when it comes to the toss of a coin?

Some bettors believe "tails never fails," and while that's not true, it's failed less than heads in Super Bowl history. Of the 55 Super Bowls to date, tails has come up 29 times versus just 26 for heads, which has hit in three of the last four Super Bowls. A strange trend has emerged involving the coin toss as well, as the winner of the toss has lost the Super Bowl every year since Super Bowl XLIV in 2014. While that trend isn't going to be predictive moving forward, it's an interesting footnote to what happens just before the game kicks off.

So with heads on a roll, is that the side you should back? Or will tails start another run of dominance, as it did for four straight years starting with that Super Bowl in 2014? Since there's no real edge to either side, sportsbooks will typically lower the juice for the prop, giving bettors a way to get some action on a random event at a better price than is available for most other props. Some spots like Caesars Sportsbook will list the prop at +100 on either side.

My pick for the coin toss is Tails, but whichever side hits, expect the team that wins the toss to defer their choice until the second half.

The Rams have won the coin toss 11 times in their 20 games this year and have deferred every time, and all 20 of their games has featured a deferral by the winning side. The Bengals also won 11 coin tosses this year, with a large portion coming early in the season, but they had one games where the winning side did not defer. That came in Week 8, when the 1-5 Jets took the ball after winning the toss then scored a touchdown on their opening drive. The Jets scored three more touchdowns that day, ultimately beating the Bengals 34-31.

The last time a team did not defer after winning the Super Bowl coin toss came in 2010 when the New Orleans Saints took the ball against Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts, who were 5-point favorites in the game. While the Saints went three-and-out on their first drive and fell behind 10-0 prior to getting the ball for a third time, Sean Payton's squad ultimately rallied back to win the game 31-17.

Just after the toss will be the opening kickoff, and there's actually a very sharp play to be made on what happens after the ball is launched in the air. You can find out which side to take on the "Will the opening kickoff result in a touchback?" prop by downloading the SportsLine Prop Guide.