Super Bowl props: Can the first team to score also get the win?

The Super Bowl is one of the highlights of the sports calendar for fans and bettors alike. There are plenty of off-the-wall prop bets for those with only a casual interest, but serious bettors are more interested in what takes place on the field in the NFL's biggest game. One of the more enticing game prop bets is whether the team that scores first can also go on to win the game.

The Kansas City Chiefs will face the San Francisco 49ers at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Feb. 2, and Kansas City is a one-point favorite in the latest NFL odds, while the over-under for total points scored is set at 54. 

DraftKings has set the line on the "home" team (Kansas City) scoring first and also getting the win at +180 and the "away" team at +225. For the teams to not to get both results, DraftKings has set the number at -235 on Kansas City and at -295 on San Francisco.

Despite the Chiefs' dominance on offense this season, they have only scored first nine times in their 18 games. And of those games, they have only gone on to win six times.The 49ers have scored the first points 12 times, and they went on to win nine of those games.

Those trends have continued in the postseason. The Chiefs fell behind 24-0 against the Texans in the divisional round before rallying to win 51-31, then trailed 10-0 against Tennessee but eased to a 35-24 victory. San Francisco scored a touchdown early in the first quarter of its 27-10 win against Minnesota and then scored the first 27 points in the 37-20 rout of the Packers.

In the 53 Super Bowls, the team that has scored first has gone on to win the game 36 times. And of the 17 teams that went on to lose, only six have even kept it within a touchdown.

Last year, the New England Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams 13-3 in the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever, and they got on the board first with a Stephen Gostkowski field goal with less than four minutes remaining in the first half. It was the second year in a row that the first team to score also won the game, and it also was the eighth time in the past nine contests.

The only exception in the past nine games also involved the Patriots, who beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in the first Super Bowl to go to overtime. Atlanta jumped out to a 21-0 lead, but New England scored the final 31 points, with James White scoring on a 2-yard touchdown run to win it on the opening drive of OT.

There will be hundreds of other prop bets for the game, whether your interest is on the quirks, the entertainment or the game action. If your focus is on the field and you want to get the best advice for the Super Bowl, check back here for analysis from our experts and to see our NFL picks.