Happy Monday, fellow sports-betting degenerates! Both the NFC and AFC Championship games had their fair share of drama. The Eagles knocked Brock Purdy out of the NFC Title Game and ended up smoking the Niners to the tune of 31-7.
The AFC Championship was a much better game to watch, as it was closely contested the entire way. The Chiefs came away with a 3-point victory, but they were definitely aided by some dumb penalties by the Bengals and some questionable officiating.
Let's look at 2 crazy bets from NFL Championship Sunday! We get a couple of weeks off before the NFL resumes with Super Bowl LVII. Stay tuned to EWB for all the latest news, tips, and best bets!
Sports Investor at Caesars Nets $300K Win on Chiefs -1
Caesars Sportsbook has a reputation for taking some of the largest wagers in the industry, and they proved that once again yesterday. A sports bettor in Nevada placed a $330,000 bet on the Chiefs -1 over the Bengals in the AFC Championship Game.
This bet was courageous, to say the least, especially with Patrick Mahomes nursing a high ankle sprain. Kansas City had also lost 3 straight to Cincinnati, which made some of the Bengals players refer to Arrowhead Stadium as "Burrowhead." That didn't sit well with anyone on the Chiefs roster.
Luckily for this bettor, the bum ankle didn't affect Mahomes's passing abilities one bit! The former MVP threw for 326 yards and 2 touchdowns, and he even looked okay on a few scrambles.
Back-to-back field goals from Harrison Butker put Kansas City on top 6-0 before the Cincy offense could get on track. Evan McPherson got the Bengals on the board with a 30-yard field goal about halfway through the 2nd quarter.
Mahomes threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to his favorite target, Travis Kelce, to put the Chiefs up by 10 with only around 4 minutes left in the half. Never one to be counted out, Joe Burrow engineered a 90-yard drive that ended in another McPherson field goal just before halftime.
Cincy came roaring back to tie the game at 13 apiece early in the 2nd half when Burrow threw a perfect 27-yard touchdown pass to Tee Higgins in the corner of the end zone. Mahomes answered quickly with a touchdown pass of his own to Marquez Valdes-Scantling from 19 yards out.
However, the Bengals continued to give this crazy bettor at Caesars a real sweat. Samaje Perine plunged into the end zone from 2 yards out to tie the game at 20 all early in the 4th quarter.
The defenses then took turns forcing a ton of punts for the majority of the quarter. Kansas City's defense (led by Chris Jones) came up huge by sacking Burrow on a crucial 3rd down with only 41 seconds left. Skye Moore then got the Chiefs into excellent field position with a 29-yard punt return.
The most crucial play in the game came with only 17 seconds remaining. Mahomes, bum ankle and all, sprinted around the right end for a short 5-yard gain. The only problem was that Bengals linebacker Joseph Ossai hit Mahomes when he was already out of bounds.
That gave Kansas City 15 free yards and set up the game-winning field goal from Butker from 45 yards out. That kick punched the Chiefs' ticket to Super Bowl LVII and sent our crazy bettor at Caesars home $300,000 richer. I'm betting that Ossai is now this bettor's favorite Bengals player!
FanDuel Sports Bettor Brings Home $100K After Eagles Win
A bettor at FanDuel Sportsbook in Pennsylvania cashed out in a big way on their hometown team. Someone bet almost $242K on the Eagles to beat the 49ers straight up in the NFC Title Game. The -142 juice hurt the overall payout a little bit, but this person still went home more than $100K richer!
This game started off like a heavyweight title fight, as both teams traded touchdowns and spent the majority of the 2nd quarter tied at 7 apiece. Everything changed when the stifling Philly pass rush smacked into Brock Purdy's elbow. This left San Fran's offense completely inept and unable to get anything going.
The Eagles were able to capitalize on a late Niners turnover by getting a 10-yard touchdown run from Boston Scott to take a two-touchdown lead into halftime. Philly never looked back and ended up getting a comfortable 24-point victory. It must've been nice for this bettor at FanDuel to make over $100K in a relatively stress-free manner.
We'll be back in a couple of weeks with this season's final edition of Crazy Bets & Bad Beats. Thanks as always for reading.
