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The Super Bowl is a gambler’s paradise. Even if your team isn’t playing in the big game, you can at least find something to root for with the plethora of prop bets that are posted for the game. You can even place bets that don’t even have anything to do with the football being played on the field. For example, you can place a wager on if Snoop Dogg smokes on stage during the halftime show, or if the price of Bitcoin goes up or down during the Super Bowl.
With a number of former Ohio State players starting for the Bengals in Sunday’s game, there are numerous ways to show your support for the Buckeye alums with your wallet. Even though Joe Burrow finished his college career, we are still going to include some of Burrow’s prop bets in our summary of what is available on the gambling lines. Burrow does hold a degree from The Ohio State University, so there’s no reason we can’t include him. Plus, I’m sure nobody will mind getting a few extra gambling nuggets from B-Leez.
If you see a number like -125 in the odds, that means you have to bet $12.50 to win $10. If you see +125 that means a $10 bet pays out $12.50.
All prop bets/lines are courtesy of Bovada. As always, be sure to bet within your means.
Joe Burrow
Total passing yards: 280.5 yards (-115)
After throwing for at least 281 yards just four times in the first 11 games of the season, Burrow ramped up his aerial assault on the NFL, hitting that mark five times in the last eight games.
The Rams have also been vulnerable against the pass this year at times. A good portion of the quarterbacks the Rams have played this year have had suspect quarterbacks. When Los Angeles goes against top tier quarterbacks, which we all can agree is a level that Joe Burrow belongs in, they have more often than not thrown for at least 281 yards.
I know this won’t be a popular reason for taking the over here, but I do think the Rams win this game. Since Cincinnati will be trailing, that will lead to Burrow throwing the ball more, and inflate his numbers some.
Passing attempts: 36.5 attempts - Over (-105)/Under (-125)
I’m a little surprised to see under with a little bit of juice on it. Burrow has been throwing the football more of late, attempting at least 37 passes in five of the last six games. The only game in which Burrow failed to reach that mark was in the Wild Card Round against Las Vegas, where he attempted 34 passes.
Total TD passes: 1.5 TD passes - Over (-160)/Under (+120) OR 2.5 TD passes - Over (+160)/Under (-215)
This has all the makings of a high-scoring game. Even though Burrow hasn’t thrown for three touchdowns in a playoff game, he did hit that mark six times this year in the regular season. The only thing that does make a little nervous about taking over 2.5 touchdown passes is the Rams haven’t given up three passing touchdowns in a game this year. It’s going to take quite an effort to hit that mark, but I think Burrow can do it.
Total completions: 24.5 completions - Over (-125)/Under (-105)
Much like a lot of the other Burrow prop bets so far, since I do think Cincinnati is going to be playing from behind, they’ll be forced to throw the football more, which will inflate Burrow’s passing numbers overall.
Longest completion: 39.5 yards - Over (-120)/Under (-110)
Are you really going to take the under when Cincinnati has Ja’Marr Chase? The Bengals also have Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd, and Joe Mixon, all of whom are capable of taking a catch at least 40 yards.
Total yards on first TD pass: 9.5 yards - Over (-130)/Under (Even)
This is going with much of then same thinking as the longest completion over/under. While I know Burrow has had a couple touchdowns this postseason that have been seven yards or less, I think the possibility of Burrow’s first touchdown pass coming from a little farther out are greater than it being a short touchdown pass.
There are a number of head-to-head props that you can do with Burrow and Matthew Stafford when it comes to QB rating, yardage, attempts, completions, etc. A lot of those odds are pretty even, so you can tell that many are predicting both quarterbacks to star in this game.
Defense
First sack of the game
Sam Hubbard +550
It would be rather fitting if Sam Hubbard had the last sack in the AFC Championship Game and then the first sack in the Super Bowl. Really though, Hubbard has some great odds here. While you have to hope that Cincinnati is able to protect Burrow early, especially if the Bengals get the ball first, you can’t go wrong with getting +550 odds hoping that Cincinnati’s second-leading pass rusher on the season is able to register the first sack of the game.
First interception of the game
Eli Apple +1000
Vonn Bell +1800
I don’t really like either of these former Buckeyes to grab the first interception of the game. Bell did have that massive interception in overtime against Kansas City, but he’s not really a guy that is going to pickoff passes that often. The interception against the Chiefs was just the third of his NFL career. If Bell is going to get a turnover, it’s more likely you’ll see him pickup a fumble.
When it comes to Apple, we’ve seen passes hit him right in the hands and he still can’t catch it. Apple will knock down a few passes, I just don’t see him picking a pass off in the game. Besides, Apple has been more effective getting his hands on the football and tipping it to his teammates and letting them secure the turnover.
Most tackles/assists
Vonn Bell +650
It’s probably going to be tough to record more tackles than Logan Wilson, Germaine Pratt, and Eric Weddle, but Bell is worth a look here. With the Rams likely putting the ball in the air a lot, we could see Bell record a good amount of tackles in the secondary, or be credited with some assists. Bell always seems to be around the football, which is a good thing in a bet like this.
Vonn Bell - 5.5 tackles + assists: Over (-145)/Under (+110)
All the reasons stated above are why I believe Bell will be credited with at least six tackles in this game. When it comes to tackling, Bell is the most solid stopper in the Cincinnati secondary. He’ll likely get even more cracks than normal at racking up tackles because of the Rams preferring to pass the football more.
Sam Hubbard - 0.5 total sacks: Over (+150)/Under (-200)
Even though the Rams have tightened up some of their protection of Stafford lately, there have been times when they have had some serious issues keeping their quarterback upright. Hubbard has been making noise in these playoffs, with three sacks after finishing the regular season with 7.5 sacks. Since you’re likely to see the Rams give a little extra attention to Trey Hendrickson, I’m banking on Hubbard getting to Stafford at least once in this game.
Sam Hubbard - 3.5 total tackles + assists: Over (-105)/Under (-125)
This line is a little curious to me, since Hubbard had at least four tackles in 10 games this year. The Ohio State defensive end sometimes looks like he is all over the field. It might be a little tougher for Hubbard to get to four tackles because of the way the Rams pass the football, but then again Kansas City loved to chuck the rock and Hubbard finished with eight stops in the AFC Championship Game.
Final score prediction
As I alluded to earlier, while I’d love to see the Bengals win the Super Bowl because of the joy it would bring to some friends of mine that are Cincinnati fans, I think they’ll come up just short. A loss in the Super Bowl shouldn’t take away from what a great season it was for the Bengals, who are ahead of schedule as they build the team around Joe Burrow.
I just think the defensive line of the Rams is going to be too much for the Bengals to slow down. We saw the issues that Cincinnati’s offensive line has had this year, especially in the playoff game against Tennessee. Even though Cincinnati will likely have a plan in place to try and slow down the likes of Aaron Donald, Von Miller, and Leonard Floyd, executing it is a whole different story.