The San Francisco 49ers will get a second crack at beating the Kansas City Chiefs in a Super Bowl – and another try at becoming the third team to win six Lombardi Trophies. There won’t be legal California sports betting for the game but the fact that Super Bowl 58 is in Las Vegas helps bring the event closer, literally, to Niners fans in the Bay Area and beyond.
One interesting aspect of this season’s playoffs is that the Niners would have faced a Super Bowl rematch no matter who won the AFC Championship Game on Jan. 28. That game saw the Chiefs win in Baltimore against the Ravens, who defeated the Niners in Super Bowl 47 in February 2013.
In February 2020, the Niners led the Chiefs 21-10 going into the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 54 in Miami. But Patrick Mahomes threw for two touchdowns in the final 6:13 of the game and Damien Williams (who caught one of those TD passes) tacked on a 38-yard rushing score as the Chiefs prevailed 31-20.
BetCalifornia.com, where you can follow efforts to bring national sportsbook operators and California sports betting promo codes to the Golden State, wanted to know the history of Super Bowl rematches. We used ESPN data to explore the performances of teams who played against one another in a previous Super Bowl. All data was pulled only from the first and second Super Bowl games in which the teams played each other (the third Super Bowl meeting between Pittsburgh and Dallas, in 1995, was not included).
Super Bowl Rematches: What Happened In Second Meeting
Teams: Miami vs. Washington (January 1973 and ‘83), Dallas vs. Pittsburgh (January 1976 and ‘79), San Francisco vs Cincinnati (January 1982 and ‘89), Dallas vs. Buffalo (January 1993 and ‘94), Philadelphia vs. New England (February 2005 & ‘18) and NY Giants vs. New England (February 2008 and ‘12).
- Miami vs. Washington: Miami won first matchup, Washington won second
- Dallas vs. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh won both
- San Francisco vs. Cincinnati: San Francisco won both
- Dallas vs. Buffalo: Dallas won both
- Philadelphia vs. New England: New England won first, Philadelphia won second
- New York Giants vs. New England: New York won both
Can 49ers Break Super Bowl Rematch Trend?
Our research shows that results from all past duplicate matchups (six total) trend toward the team that won the first Super Bowl meeting. Four times, a team that won the first meeting in a Super Bowl also won the second time against that same opponent. Only two, or 33%, of teams won the rematch against a Super Bowl opponent after losing the first time, which might not bode well for the Niners if you could use California sportsbook apps to bet on the game.
In January 1983, Washington capped a strike-shortened season by defeating the Miami Dolphins 27-17 in Super Bowl 18, a full decade after Miami won the first meeting between the teams in a Super Bowl. The other team to buck the rematch trend was the Eagles. Philadelphia lost to New England in Super Bowl 39 in February 2005. The Eagles beat the Patriots 13 years later, in Super Bowl 52, claiming their first Lombardi Trophy with a 41-33 victory sparked by the “Philly Special” trick play.
Stay with BetCalifornia.com for San Francisco 49ers Super Bowl odds updates as the big game draws near. As of Wednesday morning, ESPN BET Sportsbook offered the best line among major national operators for those interested in betting on the 49ers, with San Francisco favored by 1.5 points at -110 odds. DraftKings has San Francisco at -2 but at slightly better odds of -102 for those favoring the Niners.
