In the fallout of their 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at Super Bowl LIX, the Kansas City Chiefs also seemed to have lost the faith of the betting public. Despite winning 15 regular-season games last year, Patrick Mahomes and co. are beginning to see their AFC Championship odds fall off.
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On the latest installment of the Up & Adams Show with Kay Adams, the title host noticed that the defending AFC champions have just the third-best odds to defend their conference crown in 2025. Even though Kansas City has laid claim to five of the previous six titles, the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills are officially now favored over them.
With the board forecasting a Super Bowl hangover for the Chiefs, Adams confessed that the roster has “taken some hits” this offseason. Nevertheless, the FanDuel TV host finds it crazy that the masses have once again defaulted to doubting the capabilities of Andy Reid and Mahomes.
“Are we really going to do this? Are we going to do this coming off of a 15-win season and three straight AFC Championship wins? …I feel like people forget that they did not have Hollywood Brown for most of last year. The focus is so much right now on ‘Oh, KC doesn’t have it. Here are the key pieces that they are missing. Are we insane? …What are we doing? Are we not going to talk about the fact that they have the guy in Patrick Mahomes?,” Kay outlined.
Given Mahomes’ propensity to collect conference championships like trading cards, the tenured talk show personality isn’t prepared to count them out just yet. Citing the old adage of, in order to be the man, you’ve got to beat the man, Adams asserted that “you have to take them out for me to be convinced that they are not the favorites.”
Her co-analyst, however, noted that the betting odds may simply be looking to follow historical trends. Additionally, he wasn’t willing to bet against the Chiefs just yet, either.
“It does factor in that the last time they lost the Super Bowl, to the Bucs, they ended up losing in the AFC Championship to the Bengals that next year, but they were still there. It’s still tough for me, they have so much going for them.”
Considering that Mahomes described the blowout loss as being “the worst thing in the world,” the lack of confidence surrounding the Chiefs’ aging roster is understandable. The league’s premiere passer threw two interceptions that day, and didn’t see his team score a single point until the closing moments of the third quarter.
Were it not for a pair of garbage time touchdown passes, the loss would’ve gone down as one of the most lopsided contests in Super Bowl history, highlighting the level at which the Chiefs were outclassed by Philadelphia. However, it’s all fair to suggest that there is a bit of recent bias at play.
Seeing as Mahomes has already collected a lifetime’s worth of championships by the age of 29, the Chiefs’ championship odds should come with a large “Bettors Beware” sign. Until it’s abundantly clear that Kansas City has regressed as a whole, perhaps it’s better safe than sorry when it comes to wagering against them.
