{"id":8679,"date":"2020-01-21T01:41:11","date_gmt":"2020-01-21T01:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/?p=8679"},"modified":"2020-01-21T01:41:14","modified_gmt":"2020-01-21T01:41:14","slug":"beware-the-crowning-narrative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/nfl\/beware-the-crowning-narrative\/","title":{"rendered":"Beware the \u201cCrowning\u201d Narrative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BY ADAM GREENE<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If you pay attention to the betting lines, and if you don\u2019t, I have no clue how you found this article, the Kansas City Chiefs opened up as a one-point favorite over the San Francisco 49ers. It\u2019s as close to a pick-em as you\u2019ll get.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might be shocked to learn that this is the fourth time we\u2019ve had a -1 spread in Super Bowl history. Not many, but as of this writing it\u2019s happened four times. The Seattle Seahakws were -1 against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX in 2015. Before that you have to go all the way back to 1982 to find a one-point favorite, in this case these same 49ers enjoyed a -1 against the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Go back another nine years and you\u2019ll see the Miami Dolphins with a one-point advantage over the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII. If you know a little NFL history, then you know the favorite is 2-1 in those games, with the Seahawks blowing their chance to make it 3-0 with the dumbest game-losing play call<\/a> in Super Bowl history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will the line sit there until gameday? I doubt it. I feel like it\u2019ll creep up to Chiefs -2.5 by kickoff on Feb. 2. I could see it go as high as -3.5 as people start digesting the tape and highlight reel that Patrick Mahomes has laid down over the last two seasons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, if you\u2019re a Chiefs fan or bettor, I would not be comfortable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the \u201cCrowning Narrative\u201d Can Doom a Team<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahomes is, unquestionably, the most physically gifted quarterback in the NFL in probably its history. It\u2019s his third year and second year starting and none of us are even arguing that at this point. Really, the only guy presently on the planet that could maybe compete for that spot is Lamar Jackson, but let\u2019s be honest. He\u2019s still rungs below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who\u2019s close to Mahomes? Right now, nobody. Those rungs I mentioned. They\u2019re empty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahomes is the closest thing the NFL has ever had to Michael Jordan and if he can cap this season with a Super Bowl title, he\u2019ll basically become that guy. This game could crown him as the greatest quarterback of his generation, in his third year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s only one problem. This has happened before. And it didn\u2019t work out for the guy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dan Marino, in his second season and second year as a starter, set a then NFL record with 48 touchdown passes. He was the Super Star and he was supposed to be crowned as such when his 14-2 Miami Dolphins met up with the 15-1 San Francisco 49ers led by\u2026 checks notes\u2026 some dude named Joe Montana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happened? How about I let NFL films fill you in with this awesomely 80s Super Bowl XIX<\/a> highlight film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film describes Marino as \u201cstate of the art.\u201d It describes Montana as \u201cversatile.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That narrative didn\u2019t last until the end of the decade. The game was never close after the second quarter and Marino lost the Super Bowl. He never made it back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s same for dynasties. The then St. Louis Rams were supposed to crown the beginnings of one in 2001-02, only to see it derailed 20-17 by the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI (with maybe a little video help). The aforementioned Seahawks were in the same situation against those exact same Patriots, only to blow it in Super Bowl LI. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is Jimmy Garoppolo Joe Montana? Not today he\u2019s not, but that day in January, 1985 in Stanford Stadium, Joe Montana wasn\u2019t \u201cJoe Montana.\u201d That script had yet to be written,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And none of it\u2019s written. So don\u2019t count your chickens and hide that crown until the game\u2019s over. You never know what can happen. Today\u2019s \u201cversatile\u201d guy could be seen as one of the greatest of all time in a few years. And Mahomes, like Marino did so many years of his playing career, could end up watching it all play out on his couch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get the latest NFL football odds and information–follow BetOnline.ag on Twitter<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BetOnline.ag on Instagram<\/a>–Follow for the latest odds, stats and information!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY ADAM GREENE If you pay attention to the betting lines, and if you don\u2019t, I have no clue how…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":8680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8681,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8679\/revisions\/8681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}