How Chiefs, Bucs Stack Up Versus Super Bowl Winners Of The Past

• When compared to every Super Bowl-winning team in history, the 2020 Kansas City Chiefs have the best passing offense the league has ever seen.
• On the other side of the ball, the rush defense of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is the best in the league and comes in ranked seventh all-time among Super Bowl winners.

TAMPA, Fla. – This year’s Super Bowl features two of the best statistical teams to play in the game in history, with both the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers ranking high in multiple categories.

With the Chiefs and their high powered offense going up against the vaunted defense of the Buccaneers, there is a chance for history on the field in Super Bowl 55. Oh, and Tom Brady happens to be under center when the Bucs have the ball.

Bettors have been looking at nearly every aspect of these teams to try and find a betting edge. Currently, the Chiefs maintain their three-point edge on the betting odds, with the point total still sitting at 56 on the legal Super Bowl sportsbooks.

Super Bowl 55 – 6:30 p.m. EST

• Kansas City Chiefs -160
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers +140
• Spread: KC -3.0
• Over/Under: 56.0

Starting with the offenses, few teams in the NFL currently or historically could keep up with that of the 2020 Kansas City Chiefs. When ranking their stats against previous Super Bowl winners, bettors can really start to see how good this KC team is historically.

The Chiefs put up 4854 passing yards this year, which would rank first all-time for any Super Bowl winner. KC put up 6653 total yards of offense, which ranks first among all NFL teams this year, and eighth all-time.

The Chiefs allowed just 24 sacks this year, putting them at 19th all time. Since the Chiefs are largely built around their offense, they rank 40th out of 55 in total rushing yards.

Now, things begin to drastically change when rankings the Chiefs defense.

In terms of points allowed to other teams, the Chiefs rank 46th all-time of Super Bowl winners. They rank 45th in total yards allowed, 50th in team sacks (with just 19), and 51st all-time in rushing yards allowed. Their best defensive ranking is for passing yards allowed, where they rank 21st all-time.

This means the Chiefs would have the fourth-worst rushing defense of any Super Bowl winner. Over the years, the only teams worse at stopping the run were last year’s 2019 Kansas City Chiefs, the 2009 New Orleans Saints, and the 2006 Indianapolis Colts.

Rushing defense is one of the most important stats in Super Bowl history. Over the years, 26 of the 55 Super Bowl winners have ranked in the top four in rushing defense that season.

Now, the NFL has certainly changed to a more offensive league in recent years but is ranked among the bottom 10 teams in defensive rankings all time is not somewhere any team wants to find itself.

Over to the Buccaneers, where the rankings are drastically different.

Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay offense rank third in the league this year in points scored, and 22nd all-time among Super Bowl-winning teams with 492. They come in at 32nd all-time for total yards with 6145, good for seventh in the NFL in 2020.

Despite his detractors, Brady and the Bucs put up the fourth-best passing season among Super Bowl-winning teams all-time with 4626 yards through the air, only behind the Chiefs in the NFL this season. The Bucs did these numbers while ranking 13th all-time in sacks allowed with just 22.

The run game struggled at times throughout the season, landing the Bucs all the way down at 54th out of 55 teams with just 1519 total rushing yards.

This means the Bucs are looking to become the Super Bowl winner with the second-worst league rushing offense in history. Only the 2011 NY Giants were worse.

While these are strong offensive stats, the Bucs were largely led to their 11-5 record by their vaunted rush defense, led by strong veterans on the front line like Vita Vea, Jason Pierre-Paul, and Ndamukong Suh.

you watch the Bucs defense and then you get snapped back to the reality that they have Ndamukong Suh still pic.twitter.com/VhyxNlWmWR

— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) February 3, 2021

The Bucs allowed just 1289 rushing yards to other teams this season, putting them first in the league this year and seventh all-time.

However, things begin to trail off in other defense categories. The pass defense did allow over 3900 yards, ranking them 47th all time. They come in at 44th all-time in total points allowed and 33rd all-time in yards allowed.

So what does this all mean for the average person betting on the Super Bowl?

It means that the historically powerful pass offense of the Chiefs will be going up against the historically stingy rush defense for the Buccaneers.

Bettors will have the difficult decision of deciding which side of the ball to put their money.

News tags: Kansas City Chiefs | NFL | Super Bowl | Super Bowl 55 | Super Bowl LV | Tampa Bay Buccaneers