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The road to the 50th Super Bowl starts today as the Kansas City Chiefs face off against the Houston Texans for the right to move into the next round of the playoffs. With some help from our friends over at BookMaker, we have the odds and over/under for the first game of the playoffs.
Now is the time where more fans put money on the line and it makes sense to do so. There are fewer teams playing and the games matter far more. Not to mention that everyone has a little holiday money from Grandma to drop on a game, so that certainly helps out a bit.
The oddsmakers have this game close with only a 3 point difference between the two teams, as the Kansas City Chiefs are the favorites. The home team, the Houston Texans in this case, are typically given an extra 3 points due to the "home field advantage" when the oddsmakers figure out the lines, essentially making them a 6 point underdog in all reality.
The over/under for the game is 39 points, meaning that oddsmakers don't really see this as a crazy high scoring affair. Even the staff here at Baltimore Beatdown think that the score will be under as everyone has it in the early 30s and at the highest, 39 on the nose. With a strong defense from both the Houston Texans and the Kansas City Chiefs along with two underwhelming quarterbacks, that seems like the safest bet out of all of them.
Even if you don't bet with real money, it'll be fun to make a little bet with yourself using these lines to see just how good you are at picking. Write down who you would pick given these odds in the comments and let's see how you do!