VIVA LAS VEGAS AND HAPPY SUPER BOWL SUNDAY EVERYONE!
For the first time ever, the Super Bowl is being held in Vegas, and there are so many people in Sin City that traffic on the strip basically came to a screeching halt last night. Vegas is always crazy and it’s even crazier today with the kickoff of the Super Bowl not too far away.
Since you’re probably going to have several hours to burn between now and the start of the game, I thought it would make some sense to shoot out a newsletter today that will give you enough reading material to last until kickoff, and if it doesn’t last you until kickoff, then just read it multiple times until it’s actually time for kickoff.
We’re going to be covering every Super Bowl related-topic I can think of today, including Taylor Swift, so let’s stop wasting time and get to the rundown.
Remember, this is a Super Bowl newsletter, so there will only be Super Bowl news coming at you today. Finally, if you’re hanging out with family and/or friends today, please tell them all to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here and then share this link with them.
1. How to watch the Super Bowl
Since I work for CBS Sports, I’ve probably mentioned this at least 400 times over the past month, but just to be safe, I’m going to mention it one more time right now: The Super Bowl is on CBS this year.
If your goal today is to spend Super Bowl Sunday watching as much pregame coverage as possible, we’ll have you covered. On the other hand, if you’re someone who likes to turn on the game just minutes before kickoff, we’ll also have you covered.
Here’s how you can watch Super Bowl LVIII:
Date: Sunday, Feb. 11
Kickoff time: 6:30 p.m. ET (CBS)
Location: Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas)
TV: CBS, Nickelodeon
How to stream: CBS broadcast on Paramount+
And just in case that isn’t clear enough, Super Bowl LVIII is available live on television through CBS and you’ll also be able to stream in on Paramount+. Also, for the first time ever, there will be a family-friendly broadcast of the game and that will be airing on Nickelodeon (If you want to know what will be happening on Nickelodeon, we have all the slime-filled details here).
Our pregame coverage on CBS will be starting at 11:30 a.m. ET with a schedule that looks like this:
11:30 a.m. ET-12 p.m. ET: NFL Slimetime
12-1 p.m. ET: Road to the Super Bowl (Presented by NFL Films)
1-2 p.m. ET: You are looking live! (This is an original special about the story of The NFL Today)
2-6 p.m. ET: The NFL Today
6-6:30 p.m. ET: Super Bowl on CBS Kickoff Show
6:30 p.m. ET: SUPER BOWL LVIII
Jim Nantz and Tony Romo will be on the call for the game and they’ll be joined by reporters Tracy Wolfson, Evan Washburn and Jay Feely, along with rules analyst Gene Steratore. The Chiefs will probably be thrilled to hear that Nantz is on the call since they’re wearing white and teams wearing white are 6-0 since 2006 with Nantz on the Super Bowl call.
The pregame coverage will include sit-down interviews with Patrick Mahomes, Brock Purdy, Travis Kelce, Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Andy Reid and Kyle Shanahan.
This game will mark the first time that CBS Sports will present the Super Bowl in 1080p High Dynamic Range (HDR) and 4K HDR. We’ll have a total of 165 cameras at the game, including A DOINK CAM (You can read more about that here and trust me, you want to read more about it). Long story, short: We’ll be embedding four cameras into the uprights to bring you an all-new angle of the game.
On the streaming side, CBS Sports HQ will have live coverage starting at 3 p.m. ET and you can access that for free by clicking here. Pete Prisco, Emory Hunt, Leger Douzable, Danny Kanell, Todd Fuhrman and two-time Super Bowl winner Bryant McFadden will be coming at you live from the Bellagio in Las Vegas. For a full look at our HQ coverage, be sure to click here.
Finally, if you’re wondering what the entertainment is going to look like today, here’s your lineup:
If you’re wondering whether anyone will be joining Usher on stage, we took a few guesses at who might joining him and we did that here.
2. Everything you need to know about the Chiefs
If the Chiefs win today, that would give them their third Super Bowl win in five years, and if that happens, I think we can all agree that they would officially be entering dynasty territory. It’s a legacy game for the Chiefs, who are now looking to take over the NFL the same way the Patriots did during the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick era.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Chiefs heading into today’s game.
- Chiefs’ injury report. The Chiefs won’t have All-Pro left guard Joe Thuney (pectoral injury), who has been ruled out for the game. With Thuney out, Nick Allegretti will start in his place. Although Thuney is out, the Chiefs could have Jerick McKinnon back on the field. The running back, who hasn’t played since December, was activated off IR on Saturday. Defensively, the Chiefs won’t have star pass-rusher Charles Omenihu, who tore his ACL in the AFC title game against the Ravens.
- Kadarius Toney expected to he a healthy scratch. The Chiefs receiver, who scored a TD in last year’s Super Bowl, isn’t expected to play today, CBS Sports Lead NFL Insider Jonathan Jones has reported. Toney, who hasn’t played since mid-December, made headlines the night before the AFC title game after going on a profanity-laced rant where he didn’t sound happy with the Chiefs.
- Steve Spagnulo is the unsung here of the Chiefs this year. With the Chiefs offense struggling at times in 2023, they had to lean on their defense this year and the defense came through nearly every time. This was easily the best Chiefs defense that Patrick Mahomes has ever played with and if you want to know how Spagnulo turned this into a Super Bowl-caliber defense, we have the details here.
- Under-the-radar players who could help the Chiefs win. If the Chiefs are going to win, they’re going several players to step up, so we decided to look at five under-the-radar players who could change things in a big way for Kansas City. The list includes LB Nick Bolton and RT Jawaan Taylor and if you want to see the full list, be sure to click here.
- Under-the-radar moves that helped the Chiefs get to the Super Bowl. The Chiefs made some smart moves in free agency in 2023. During the offseason, Kansas City handed out three contracts worth a combined $22 million to Charles Omenihu (2 years, $16 million), Mike Edwards (1 year, $3 million), Drue Tranquill (1 year, $3 million) and those were all home runs. For a full look at all their under-the-radar moves, be sure to check out our story here.
- Travis Kelce’s playoff transformation. The Chiefs tight end had a down year (for him), but he’s come alive during the postseason. Kelce has put up huge numbers in the playoffs and we decided to breakdown why this postseason transformation has happened. You can check out our story here.
- Where this team ranks in Chiefs history. Bryan DeArdo decided to rank all the best teams in Chiefs’ history and he has the 2023 team ranked as fifth-best. If you want to see which teams landed ahead of them, be sure to go here.
- How the Chiefs were built through the draft. A big reason the Chiefs are suddenly turning into a dynasty is because they’ve built their team the old-fashioned way: Through the draft. The Chiefs have a total of six home grown first-round picks and six second-round picks on their roster, along with eight undrafted free agents. They’ve been impressive in the draft and you can read more about it here.
- Patrick Mahomes is turning into a modern Michael Jordan. The Chiefs QB is the best player in the NFL right now and a big reason for that is because he almost always comes up in the clutch. We decided to take a look at how Mahomes compares to the all-time greats in other sports — like Jordan, Derek Jeter and Tiger Woods — and you can check that out here.
For more Chiefs news, you can check out our team hub by clicking here.
3. Everything you need to know about the 49ers
Although things were quiet with the Chiefs for most of the week, the same can’t be said for the 49ers, who had to deal with multiple issues over the past few days. With that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about the 49ers heading into today’s game.
- 49ers hated their practice field. The 49ers were NOT thrilled with their practice field that they were forced to use at UNLV this week. CBS Sports Lead NFL Insider Jonathan Jones originally broke the story: The 49ers thought the field was too soft. Kyle Shanahan confirmed that the team wasn’t happy, but he also said they would deal with it.
- Fire alarm got pulled at the 49ers’ team hotel. The 49ers got an early wake-up call on Thursday morning after a fire alarm went off a 6 a.m. PT. Several 49ers stars, including Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle were NOT happy with the situation. You can read more about it here.
- 49ers injury report. The 49ers are extremely healthy going into the Super Bowl with only player even being listed as questionable for today’s game (DT Kalia Davis). Although several key players — like George Kittle and Ambry Thomas — were limited in practice this week, the entire roster fully participated in practice on Friday, which means everyone should be good to go.
- Under-the-radar players who could help the 49ers win. The 49ers have plenty of stars on their roster, but they’re likely going to need other players to step up if they want to beat the Chiefs. Two under-the-radar players who we’ll be keeping an eye on are Javon Kinlaw and Jauan Jennings. If you want to see our full list, be sure to click here.
- Under-the-radar moves that helped the 49ers get to the Super Bowl. If you’re looking for some under-the-radar reason why the 49ers are playing in their second Super Bowl in four years, we’ve got those here. One move on our list was the hiring of defensive coordinator Steve Wilks, who replaced DeMeco Ryans.
- How the 49ers were built through the draft. The 49ers have been nailing their late-round picks in the draft, which is a big reason why they’re playing today. From George Kittle (fifth-round) to Jauan Jennings (seventh-round) to Brock Purdy (seventh-round), the 49ers have been doing some of their best work on the final day of the draft. We decided to take a deeper look at that and you can check it out here.
- The Brock Purdy ‘game manager’ debate. If you’ve been following any Super Bowl coverage anywhere over the past two weeks, then you’ve probably heard this debate. IS BROCK PURDY A GAME MANAGER? We decided to see what the stats say and you can check that out here.
- Having a rookie kicker might be a good thing. On paper, the Chiefs have the better kicker in this game, but Jake Moody does have one thing working in his favor: Rookie kickers have actually performed surprisingly well in the Super Bowl. You can check out the numbers here.
- The matchup that could decide the Super Bowl. The 49ers have some of the best pass-catchers in the NFL with Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle. They’ll be going up against a stingy Chiefs secondary that has given up the fourth-fewest passing yards in the league this year. We broke down the match up and you can check it out here.
For more 49ers news, you can check out our team hub by clicking here.
4. Super Bowl LVIII picks and best prop bets: Nearly everyone is on the Chiefs
After spending two straight weeks trying to track down everyone’s pick here at CBS Sports, I finally finished the job with just hours to go until kickoff.
The 49ers opened at a 2.5-point favorite at most sportsbooks and although number fluctuated pretty wildly in the first 24 hours it was up, it has now settled back down, and as we head into kickoff, the 49ers are favored by 2.
With that in mind, here are our picks. Apparently, almost everyone is on the Chiefs.
John Breech: Chiefs 31-20 over 49ers (Full pick)
Pete Prisco: Chiefs 24-20 over 49ers (Full pick)
Cody Benjamin: Chiefs 27-23 over 49ers (Full pick)
Jeff Kerr: Chiefs 30-24 over 49ers (Full pick)
Tyler Sullivan: Chiefs 24-20 over 49ers (Full pick)
Jordan Dajani: Chiefs 24-21 over 49ers (Full pick)
R.J. White: Chiefs 24-17 over 49ers (Full pick)
Alex “Prop Starz” Selesnick: Chiefs 27-21 over 49ers (Full pick)
Dave Richard: Chiefs 27-20 over 49ers
Jason La Canfora: Chiefs 27-23 over 49ers (Full pick)
Jamey Eisenberg: Chiefs 20-17 over 49ers
Ryan Wilson: Chiefs 20-17 over 49ers
Jared Dubin: Chiefs 23-21 over 49ers (Full pick)
Will Brinson: Chiefs 24-21 over Eagles
Even though the 49ers ARE FAVORED, we only have one brave soul picking them to win:
Emory Hunt: 49ers 24-20 over Chiefs
Madden simulation: 49ers 10-6 over Chiefs (Full prediction)
You can check out our full picks hub for the Super Bowl by clicking here.
If you plan on gambling on the game, here are my two of my favorite props:
1. Game to be tied after 0-0 (-130): This prop has hit in six of the past nine Super Bowls and I’m thinking it’s going to hit again tonight.
2. Total players with a pass attempt: OVER 2.5 (+160): This one is pretty simple; if you think a player besides the two quarterbacks will throw a pass, then you bet this prop. The pass doesn’t even have to be complete, it just has to be thrown. I think we’ll see at least one trick play and this prop will hit. This prop could also hit if one of the starting quarterbacks takes a big hit and has to leave the game for a play or two, leaving the backup QB to throw a pass.
If you don’t like those two props, here are three more that a few of our writers came up with:
3. 49ers to win first half, Chiefs to win the game (+525, Caesars): From Jared Dubin, “The Chiefs haven’t led at halftime of any of their three Super Bowl appearances in this era (they were tied with the Niners and trailing both the Bucs and Eagles), so if you think the Chiefs will win, this is better value than just taking the money line.”
4. Team to score the longest touchdown: 49ers (-142, FanDuel). From Eric Kernish, “The 49ers are all about racking up yards after the catch, so it only makes sense they’re the ones to pick for this prop. Expect this to occur in the first half … before Kyle Shanahan’s team likely disappears down the final stretch.”
5. Christian McCaffrey first touchdown scorer (+360, DraftKings). From Josh Edwards, “San Francisco has scored a touchdown on more than half of their first drives this season (10 of 19) while Kansas City has scored a touchdown on just 25% of their opening drives. Christian McCaffrey has scored a touchdown in 13 of 18 49ers games this season.”
For more props, be sure to click here so you can check out SportsLine’s monstrous prop guide, which might be the most comprehensive thing that I’ve ever read. We also have a list of the 58 best props for Super Bowl LVIII and you can check that out here.
If you’re looking to bet props, those two stories should cover everything you could possibly think of.
5. Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl: Everything you need to know
For the past two weeks, everyone has been trying to figure out if Taylor Swift will be at the Super Bowl and the answer to that question is yes.
Here’s everything you need to know about Taylor going to the big game:
- Swift flew to the United States on Saturday. Although Swift had a concert in Tokyo on Saturday night, she was able to fly back to the states and land at LAX before 4 p.m. PT on Saturday afternoon thanks to the magic of the international date line (The Pacific Time Zone is 17 hours behind Tokyo). For the past two weeks, the assumption was that Swift would fly straight to Vegas, but that created two problems: She had nowhere to park her plane AND her private jet didn’t have the range to fly from Tokyo to the states. What Swift ended up doing was chartering a jet and the crazy part is that according to one report, she actually chartered TWO jets in case there were any issues with the first one. One thing that’s not clear is whether Swift will fly or have someone drive her to Las Vegas for the game. According to the latest reports, she ended up flying and she landed in Vegas on Saturday night.
- Taylor’s going to have a good seat at the stadium. After Donna Kelce said she would be sitting in the “stands” for the game, that started some speculation about where Taylor will be sitting. Don’t worry though, Swifties, it looks like Taylor will be in a suite. According to TMZ, Travis Kelce spent $1 million to purchase a suite that will sit Taylor and her family along with Kelce’s family. The Chiefs tight end did mention on his podcast this week that he’s spending a small fortune to get his friends and family to the game, so it seems like he did end up forking over the check to pay for the suite.
- Why the Chiefs will be glad to see Taylor. As all Swifties know, this will be the 13th game that Taylor has attended this season and it’s happening on 2/11 (2+11 = 13) against the 49ers (4+9 = 13)… OK, where was I going with that? Oh yea, Swift has mostly been a good luck charm for the Chiefs this year. In the previous 12 games she’s attended the Chiefs have gone 9-3.
If you want to brush up on your knowledge of T-squared (Travis and Taylor), we covered their relationship history here.
6. 10 wild stats to know about Super Bowl LVIII
I thought about doing 58 stats to know about Super Bowl LVIII, but that probably would have taken me three days to write and since the Super Bowl kicks off in just a few hours, that math didn’t add up, so I did what any resourceful person would do: I trimmed it down to 10 stats.
- Chiefs in rare underdog role for defending champion. This game will mark just the third time that the reigning Super Bowl champion (Chiefs) has entered the game as an underdog. The bad news for the Chiefs is that the other two times it happened — 1978 Cowboys and 2014 Seahawks — the defending champion lost.
- Chiefs trying to go back-to-back. If the Chiefs can win on Sunday, they’d become the first repeat champions in the NFL in nearly 20 years. The last team to go back-to-back was the 2003-04 Patriots.
- Patrick Mahomes could join rare company. The Chiefs QB could win his third Super Bowl and if that happens, he’d join Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw and Troy Aikman as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to pull that off.
- Allegiant Stadium has been a second home for Mahomes. The Chiefs QB has a career record of 4-0 at the stadium and in those four wins, he’s completed 73.5% of his passes while averaging 313.5 pass yards per game. He’s also thrown 10 TD passes compared to just one interception.
- 49ers can make history. The 49ers have been sitting at five Super Bowl wins for 29 years. If they can finally get their sixth one today, that will put them in a tie with the Patriots and Steelers for the most Super Bowl wins in NFL history.
- Rematch numbers don’t favor the 49ers. This is the eighth Super Bowl rematch in NFL history and in the seven prior rematches, the team that won the first game has gone 5-2 in the second game. This is also the fourth coaching rematch and the coach that won the first game has gone 3-0 in the second game. You can read about the three prior coaching rematches here.
- Kyle Shanahan has an unfortunate history in the Super Bowl. The 49ers coach has been on the losing side for the two biggest blown leads in Super Bowl history. He was the offensive coordinator for the Falcons team that blew a 28-3 lead to the Patriots. And then, four years ago, he watched his 49ers team blow a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter in a 31-20 loss to the Chiefs. Shanahan will be hoping he doesn’t add to these records today.
- NFL rushing leader finally gets back to the big game. Christian McCaffrey led the NFL in rushing yards this year, which is notable, because this marks the first time since 2005 that the NFL’s rushing leader has played in the Super Bowl (Shaun Alexander did it with the Seahawks). The rushing leader hasn’t WON a Super Bowl since Terrell Davis did it with the Broncos in 1998. Coincidentally, he did it with Mike Shanahan, who is the father of Kyle.
- Father-son rarity. Christian McCaffrey’s dad, Ed, has already won a Super Bowl with the 49ers and if Christian also wins one, that will make them just the second father-son duo in NFL history to win a Super Bowl with the same team. They could join Steve and Zak DeOssie, who did it with the Giants.
- Travis Kelce can break one of Jerry Rice’s records. If Kelce finishes with at least 100 yards today, that would give him nine 100-yard postseason games in his career, which would break a record that he currently holds with Rice. And it certainly would be fitting for Kelce to do it in the Super Bowl against Rice’s old team.
If you need to burn more time before the game starts, we also have 58 things to know about Super Bowl LVIII, and we have that here.
Finally, we usually include the weather forecast for the game, but there’s nothing to know this year and that’s because the Super Bowl is being played indoors at Allegiant Stadium. One unique aspect about the stadium is that it has a RETRACTABLE field and if you want to see how that works, you can do that here.
Alright everyone, have a great time watching the Super Bowl and just as a friendly reminder, I’ll be tweeting up a storm today, so if you want to follow along, be sure to click here. We’ll also be doing a live podcast after the game and if you want a notification about when that will go down, just subscribe to our NFL on CBS YouTube page here.
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Author: John Breech
February 11, 2024 | 12:40 pm
