Super Bowl LV: Chiefs, Bucs, How To Watch, Bets, Odds, Star QBs

TAMPA, FL — The best day of the year for football fans — and the only day others seem to care about football — awaits Americans on Sunday. Super Bowl LV will pit the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first non-neutral site Super Bowl in the game's 55-year history.

Sunday's Super Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay will be historic on a number of levels.

Attendance will be at an all-time low for the Super Bowl era. It's capped at a 22,000 maximum due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Popular Super Bowl week activities, such as the quirky media day, were held virtually; and signs near the stadium have been warning fans all week to keep social distancing ahead of a weeklong event that normally draws a huge crowd of fans who aren't even going to the game.

Also, Sunday will mark the first time a team will play a Super Bowl in its home stadium. The Buccaneers broke the Super Bowl host "curse" as the first team scheduled to host the season's final game to win a conference championship. The closest the Super Bowl had ever come before to having a "home team" was in Super Bowl XIX following the 1984 season, when the San Francisco 49ers beat the Miami Dolphins at Stanford Stadium in Northern California.

What else is there to look forward to on Sunday? Quite a bit, actually.

Quarterback Matchup: Possibly the best in Super Bowl history. The Bucs' Tom Brady, winner of a record six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots, faces the Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes, who is already appearing in his second Super Bowl in just three seasons as a starting quarterback in the NFL. Brady's status as the greatest quarterback of all time hasn't been questioned, even by his most vocal doubters, as of late. But some have said that if anyone could possibly turn out a better career than Brady, it could be Mahomes.

Odds: The Chiefs are a three-point favorite, according to odds from PointsBet. The "over/under" is 56 and money line at -171 for the Chiefs and +145 for the Bucs.

Prop Bets: The Super Bowl is when the wackiest bets come out. A scorecard of what's available to bet on is available via Draft Kings. Among the lines you can bet are rushing yards for Brady (+/- 0.5), whether Mahomes will throw a pass with his left hand and the color of the Gatorade bath for the winning coach at the end of the game.

National Anthem Performers: Jazmine Sullivan and Eric Church

Kickoff Time: 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time

Commercials: Expect some funny ones, as always — but not all the brands we've become accustomed to seeing on Super Bowl Sunday this year. Budweiser, known for its Super Bowl ads featuring the Clydesdales, will not have an ad this year. Instead, Anheuser-Busch will donate the money it would have spent on advertising to coronavirus vaccination efforts. Doritos, another Super Bowl ad regular, will have a commercial featuring a "flat" Matthew McConaughey.

Halftime Show: The Weeknd

How To Watch: CBS-TV. CBS will provide a free livestream on its website as well.

How The Chiefs Got There: The Chiefs went 14-2 in the regular season, earned the AFC No. 1 seed and won home games against the Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills in the playoffs to reach Sunday's game.

How The Bucs Got There: The Buccaneers, in their first playoff appearance in 13 years, won three road games, topping the Washington Football Team, New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers on their route to Sunday. They were 11-5 during the regular season.

Fire The Cannons?

No, the traditional firing of the cannons on the pirate ship inside Raymond James Stadium when the Buccaneers score a touchdown won't occur during Super Bowl LV. But they will fire when the Bucs are introduced before the game; and if Tampa Bay wins, they will fire "long and loud," according to NFL.com.

Sports City Of The Year

Professional sports teams in the Tampa Bay-St. Petersburg area have been nearly unstoppable since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. The Tampa Bay Lightning won the 2020 Stanley Cup, the Tampa Bay Rays were the runner-up in the 2020 World Series, and now the Buccaneers are the first NFL team to ever play in a Super Bowl in their own city.

If Tampa Bay wins,

• It will be the franchise's second Super Bowl championship. The first came following the 2002 season.
• It will be head coach Bruce Arians' first NFL championship as a head coach.
• Brady will add to his record with a seventh Super Bowl win and become only the second quarterback to guide two different franchises to Super Bowl titles.
• It will be the first time the NFC wins the Super Bowl since the Philadelphia Eagles upset Brady's Patriots in the final game of the 2017 season.

If Kansas City wins,

• The Chiefs will become the first team since Brady's 2003-2004 Patriots to win Super Bowls in back-to-back years.
• It will be head coach Andy Reid's second Super Bowl championship as a head coach.
• Bragging rights back home for Byron Pringle, the Chiefs wide receiver who was born in Tampa and attended the local Robinson Senior High School. It would be quite the distinction to him to win a Super Bowl in his hometown, against his hometown team.
• The 2021 season will give them an opportunity to become the first team to win three Super Bowls in a row.

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