Coin Toss, Historical Matchups Highlight Super Bowl Props

Over the next three days millions of sports fans will be visiting online sportsbooks to take advantage of the hundreds of props bets available ahead of Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday night.

While available props bets cover every aspect of on-field team and individual player performances, one of the most popular Super Bowl props bets at the online sportsbooks is on the result of the coin toss prior to the start of the game.

No strategy comes into play when betting on the coin toss, with both Heads and Tails having a 50/50 chance of success, and each carrying odds of 20/21 at the online sportsbooks. But it is hard to ignore the historical trends involving coin toss winners in recent Super Bowls.

In the previous 48 Super Bowls, the coin toss has come up Heads on 24 occasions, and Tails on 24 occasions. Last season, the Seahawks won the toss with Tails, ending a five-game win streak for Heads, and marking the first time in three years that the team winning the toss went on to become Super Bowl champs. Seattle’s success with Tails also marked the second straight time that the team winning the toss with Tails emerged as Super Bowl champs.

This year, the odds of the team that wins the coin toss going on to win the Super Bowl are pegged at 20/23 in NFL online betting, with the same 20/23 odds applying to the team that loses the coin toss.

Overall, the coin toss winning team is 23-25 SU in the 48 previous Super Bowls, but just 5-9 SU in the last 14. It is also interesting to note, as the Seahawks prepare to defend their victory at Super Bowl XLVII, that only twice in Super Bowl history has a team won the coin toss in consecutive Super Bowls, and only one team has won both consecutive coin tosses and Super Bowl titles.

The Miami Dolphins accomplished the feat, winning the toss with heads on three consecutive Super Sundays, including their victories in Super Bowls VII and VIII.

A number of Super Bowl props bets are also available that will match up individual player performances in Sunday night’s Patriots vs. Seahawks Super Bowl matchup at University of Phoenix Stadium against those players stats compiled in previous Super Bowl appearances.

QB Tom Brady completed 27 passes in the Patriots’ 21-17 loss to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI. With a spread of +3.5, Brady is a 20/23 bet to surpass that number on Super Sunday. Brady also sports odds of 20/23 to top the 276 passing yards he threw for in 2012, while supported by a spread of +15.5.

The spread attached to the prop bet on whether Seahawks QB Russell Wilson will top the 206 passing yards he recorded in last year’s Super Bowl victory is set at -13.5, with moneyline odds of 20/23. Wilson also compiled 26 rushing yards in Seattle’s 43-8 win over the Denver Broncos. The prop bet that says he will top last year’s performance on the ground carries a spread of -14.5, again with moneyline odds of 20/23.

Seahawks WR Doug Baldwin recorded five pass receptions in last year’s Super Bowl and carries 20/23 moneyline odds to match or improve on that number this year in Super Bowl online props betting, while teammate WR Jermaine Kearse will reward bettors with the same 20/23 odds by topping his four-catch performance on Super Sunday last year.