Point Spreads in Super Bowl History
The National Football League (NFL) championship game is the Super Bowl. Since the first Super Bowl in January, 1967, it has emerged as the largest sporting event of the year. Each year oddsmakers and bookies reveal the betting odds for the two teams, which involve point spreads.
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Identification
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A point spread evens out the odds in a game which is perceived by oddsmakers to be unevenly matched. For instance, in 2010 the Indianapolis Colts were the favorites over the New Orleans Saints by a 5.5 point spread. If you bet on the Colts, they had to win by 6 points in order to win the bet. If the Colts won by 5 or less, the bettor who bet on the Saints won the bet.
1960s and 1970s
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The first Super Bowl involved the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs. Oddsmakers favored the Packers by 17 points over the Chiefs. The Packers won the game by a score of 35 to 10, exceeding the point spread. Two years later, the Colts had a 17-point spread over the New York Jets. The Jets won by a score of 16 to 7, becoming the first team that was not favored to win the Super Bowl.
Throughout the 1970s, the favored team won eight Super Bowls. However, in 1967, the Pittsburgh Steelers owned a point spread of 7 points, but only defeated the Dallas Cowboys by 4 points, 21 to 17. In 1979, the Steelers became the first team to actually win a game by the point spread. They had a 4-point spread over the Cowboys and won 35 to 31.
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The 1980s
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Throughout the 1980s the underdog team, or team not favored to win, won three Super Bowls. The largest point spreads in the 1980s were in 1980 and 1986, when both the Steelers and Chicago Bears were given 11-point spreads over their opponents.
The 1990s
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In 1990, the San Francisco 49ers had an 11-point spread over the Denver Broncos en route to the most lopsided score in Super Bowl history, winning 55 to 10. The favored team won eight Super Bowl games throughout the decade of the 1990s. The non-favored winners were the New York Giants in 1991 and the Denver Broncos in 1998.
The 2000s
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Throughout the 2000s the favored team won seven games. The highest point spread in the 2000s was 14 points. In both cases, the team favored failed to win. In 2002, the New England Patriots defeated the St. Louis Rams 20 to 17; in 2008, the New York Giants defeated the Patriots 17 to 14.
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