49ers-Chiefs Super Bowl odds: What does the point spread mean?

49ers-Chiefs Super Bowl Odds

What Does the Point Spread Mean?

The point spread is simply how many points the favorite is expected to win by. The bigger the number of the point spread, the bigger the expected margin of victory in that game.

This gets complicated in two ways that are actually pretty easy to understand: minus signs vs. plus signs, and why there's often a .5 on the number of the point spread.

The difference between minus signs and plus signs on a point spread is that a minus sign means that team is the favorite, while a plus sign means that team is the underdog. (This is also true of moneylines, but we will ignore those for now.) So if a team like the 49ers is -2, that means they are favorites to win the game by 2 points, on average.

In that example, if you bet on the 49ers to "cover the spread," you would win your bet if they won by more than 2 points. If they won by less than 2 points or lost, then you would lose your bet.

But what happens if they won by exactly two points? In that case, you would tie, or "push," and get your bet back.

That brings us to the .5 that you will sometimes see on point spreads. For example, the 49ers might be -2.5. In that case, the .5 is there to avoid "pushes" — because a team can't score a half-point, a tie on the point spread is impossible. Instead, you would win your bet if the 49ers won by more than 2.5 (i.e. won by 3 or more) and lose your bet if they won by less than 2.5 (i.e. won by 1 or 2 points) or lost.

For even more on the point spread definition and other examples, head over to our point spread betting education page!

49ers-Chiefs Super Bowl Point Spread

The current Super Bowl 58 point spread is 49ers -2, meaning the Niners are favored by 2 points over the Chiefs. There are some sportsbooks, however, where the point spread is either 49ers -1.5 or 49ers -2.5.

But the "consensus" or average point spread for 49ers-Chiefs has stayed steady at 49ers -2 for most of this week.

The 49ers-Chiefs Super Bowl point spread of 49ers -2 is also almost exactly in line with our Super Bowl Prediction: Expert Projections for the Most Likely Final Score, which you'll want to be sure to check out.

And for everything you need to know about Super Bowl 58, head over to Super Bowl 58 Odds, How to Watch, Start Time, How to Bet, More.