Super Bowl 54 odds: Chiefs early favorites in Vegas

This is going to be a great Super Bowl.

Unlike so many years in the past where the two best teams didn’t reach Super Sunday, it appears we have the right matchup on hand come Feb. 2. The San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs will meet in Miami for the right to hoist the Lombardi Trophy, and Vegas sees it as a borderline dead-even affair.

As of Monday night, the Chiefs are laying a single point to the 49ers after opening in most books as a 2.5-point favorite. The line has shifted a few times already with initial money coming in, although it hasn’t dipped below even.

For both teams, the road to the Super Bowl was full of disbelievers.

In San Francisco’s case, it wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near the Super Bowl this season. While some had high hopes for a healthy Jimmy Garoppolo and third-year head coach Kyle Shanahan, it was widely thought the 49ers would need a few years of seasoning before moving ahead of the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks in the competitive NFC West. Instead, the 49ers vaulted both in a single year, winning 13 games and locking up home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.

As for the Chiefs, they came into the season as preseason Super Bowl favorites. Then a string of injuries threatened to derail the campaign, with stars such as Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Eric Fisher, Juan Thornhill, Alex Okafor, Sammy Watkins, Frank Clark, Chris Jones and Emmanuel Ogbah all going down for various lengths of time. Meanwhile, it was the Baltimore Ravens generating most of the headlines in the AFC behind (likely) MVP sensation Lamar Jackson.

However, both the 49ers and Chiefs reminded everyone in January why the two combined for a regular-season record of 25-7. San Francisco breezed by the Minnesota Vikings (27-10) and Green Bay Packers (37-20) while the Chiefs dispatched the Houston Texans (51-31) and Tennessee Titans (35-24) with fantastic flourishes on both sides of the ball.

If San Francisco and Kansas City play to their respective potentials, we should see one of the better championship games any sport has offered in some time. Both are well-rounded and with terrific coaching staffs, from the head man on down.

The NFL couldn’t ask for a better showcase on the largest stage the sport has to offer. Now we have two weeks to wait, and two weeks to wonder.