Super Bowl LIV odds: Chiefs taking early money as slight favorites over 49ers

Super Bowl LIV is set with the Kansas City Chiefs facing the San Francisco 49ers in Miami on Feb. 2. The AFC champion Chiefs, whose 50-year stretch between Super Bowl appearances is the longest in league history, opened as 1-point favorites, but there will obviously be plenty of movement over the next two weeks on the NFL odds.

Here's what Doug Castaneda, Director of Race and Sportsbook Operations at the Wynn in Las Vegas, had to say via email about the wins by the Chiefs and 49ers on Sunday: "Tough results (Sunday) but we look forward to an incredible matchup in two weeks with the Chiefs opening up -1 at Wynn/Encore. The quarterback matchup favors KC undoubtedly, so we gave the Chiefs a slight nod on the opening number."

It's the first Super Bowl appearance as a starter for both Kansas City QB Patrick Mahomes, the 2018 NFL MVP, and Jimmy Garoppolo. Although Jimmy G was a backup on some Patriots teams that played in this game. In fact, following the 2016 season Garoppolo watched Tom Brady lead the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history, with the Patriots rallying from a 28-3 third-quarter deficit to beat the Atlanta Falcons in overtime. The next day, then-Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan took over as 49ers head coach.

San Francisco is the third team in league history to reach a Super Bowl after winning four games or fewer the previous season. The others were the 1999 Rams and the 1988 Bengals. St. Louis won it all that year, while Cincinnati lost (to the 49ers).

Westgate Sportsbook Director John Murray said his book opened the Super Bowl as a pick'em and the total at 51.5: "(We) took a number of bets on the Chiefs and the Over and we got up to Chiefs -1 and 52.5. We took a bet for $110,000 on Over 52.5 and went to 53.5. Now at 53.5. Gonna be a lot of Chiefs and Over bets the next two weeks."

There have only been three other Super Bowls where the spread was 1.5 points or fewer (last XLIX).

Mahomes is the opening favorite to win Super Bowl MVP and that's not going to change, although the price will depending on the action. The 49ers and Chiefs did not play this regular season (they did in the preseason).