How Often Do #1 Seeds Win The Super Bowl?

The San Francisco 49ers will take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas on Feb.11. 

The 49ers opened as the early favorites with sports betting sites to win the Super Bowl, despite giving up 52 points in their two playoff games.

The number one seed 49ers rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat the Detroit Lions 34-31 after the number three seed Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 in the Charm City. 

This will be the first Super Bowl to be contested by a number one and three seed since the Indianapolis Colts (#3) beat the Chicago Bears (#1) 29-17 in Miami at the end of the 2006 season.

It remains the only time in the last 30 years that a number three seed has won the Super Bowl. Can the Chiefs do what the Colts did? 

Being the number one seed in your conference guarantees nothing, as the Baltimore Ravens found out last weekend.

The Ravens came up short against a street-wise Chiefs team looking to win their third Super Bowl in five years.

The 49ers and Chiefs have a fortnight between games to prepare for Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas.  

It promises to be a keenly contested Super Bowl similar to the previous two, which were both decided by three points.

So, how often does a number one seed win the Super Bowl?

History Favors The 49ers

Generally speaking, the teams that secures the number one seed are the best in their conference. 

They’ll have won the most games and come out on top in the numerous tiebreakers if teams can't be separated on games won, etc. 

In the last 30 years, 14 number one seeds have gone on to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy, including the Kansas City Chiefs last year when they beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 in Super Bowl LVII. 

Of those 14 top seeds, eight came from the NFC and the San Francisco 49ers are hoping they can be the ninth to do so. 

But they have to get past a Chiefs team who beat them 31-20 in Super Bowl LIV, when the 49ers led by 10 points with just over six minutes left to play. 

San Francisco's head coach Kyle Shanahan will hope he has learned from that disappointment. 

Can Three Be The Magic Number For Chiefs?

The two Super Bowl titles the Chiefs have won in recent years, have come as the number one and two seeds. Can they do it as a number three seed?

Our research shows that odds are against third seeds to win a Super Bowl. 

The Indianapolis Colts remain the only number three seed in the last 30 years to win a Super Bowl, and that was in 2006. 

As the AFC's number three seed, the Chiefs have had to play their Divisional and Conference Championship games on the road. 

For a team making the playoffs for the ninth straight season, this was not a problem for Kansas City.  

After beating the Miami Dolphins at home, Andy Reid's team beat the Buffalo Bills, in Buffalo and the Ravens in Baltimore.

Travis Kelce caught 11 passes from Patrick Mahomes for 116 yards and a touchdown as the Chiefs beat the Ravens 17-10.