If early reports are any indication, it seems that everyone and their mother thinks Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers will be spending a week in South Florida for Super Bowl LIV come early February.
San Francisco opened as significant favorites over the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game, and NFL talking heads are already anointing the Niners the best team remaining in the playoffs.
While the oddsmakers in Vegas are giving the 49ers a pretty healthy advantage, that does not mean that those inside the sportsbooks around the country will be rooting for the Niners in Sunday’s contest.
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“All along, Frisco has been no good (for the book) because it’s a West Coast team and we’ve got so many books up north and they were already good with (quarterback) Jimmy (Garoppolo),” William Hill sportsbook director Nick Bogdanovich told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Back East, we’re really good with the 49ers. The Chiefs and the Packers are both good.”
In addition to San Francisco, the AFC's sixth-seeded Tennessee Titans -- architects of back-to-back shocking playoff upsets over the New England Patriots and top-seeded Baltimore Ravens -- would spell bad news for the oddsmakers if they were to wind up taking down the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC title game and advancing to Super Bowl LIV.
“Any time a team like Tennessee comes out of the blue, there’s always a chance you can get hurt,” Bogdanovich said. “Back East, we get bludgeoned by the Titans. Anyone but the Titans is what we’re rooting for.”
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So a 49ers-Titans Super Bowl matchup would mean big trouble for those who set the odds in Sin City. But if you’re a 49ers fan, a strong run defense going up against Derrick Henry and the Titans sounds a lot more appealing than having to outduel reigning NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes and the high-powered Chiefs offense.
Start getting those bets in now, 49ers fans.
Programming note: NBC Sports Bay Area feeds your hunger for 49ers playoff coverage with special editions of “49ers Central” all week (8 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday; 6 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday)
Also tune in at 2:30 p.m. Sunday for “49ers Pregame Live,” with Laura Britt, Jeff Garcia, Donte Whitner, Ian Williams and Grant Liffmann previewing the NFC Championship Game against the Packers. That same crew will have all the postgame reaction on “49ers Postgame Live,” starting at approximately 5:30 p.m.