Super Bowl Prop Betting: Super Bowl MVP

One of the easiest to understand and thus most popular Super Bowl prop bets is the Super Bowl MVP bet. This bet simply requires the bettor to select the Super Bowl MVP. Different players have different odds but understanding the nature of the NFL game and the history of the Super Bowl MVP award helps you eliminate many players and focus on the most likely scenarios.

The first step of the process should be obvious—the’Most Valuable Player’ almost always comes from the team that wins the Super Bowl. In fact in the 47 previous Super Bowl games only once has the Super Bowl MVP come from the losing team (Dallas linebacker Chuck Howley was named the MVP of Super Bowl V despite the Cowboys losing). That was a drastically different era, however, and for handicapping purposes it’s a good idea to assume that the player will come from the winning team.

It’s also important to understand the format by which the Super Bowl MVP is selected—the vote is determined by media balloting (80%) with a smaller input from fan voting (20%). The fan voting does give the MVP award at least an element of being a popularity contest. The sports media isn’t exactly as discerning as they have been in the past either so don’t expect the MVP decision to be an obscure player.

There’s an old NFL axiom that ‘defense wins championships’. That may be true, but offense wins the Super Bowl MVP award. Of the 47 Super Bowl games to date 39 MVP winners have been from the offensive side of the ball with 8 defensive players and 1 special teams player winning the award. And those of you who are paying attention no doubt realized that is a total of 48 award winners in 47 Super Bowls. Dallas defenders Randy White and Harvey Martin were named the co-MVP’s of Super Bowl XII.

Most significantly, quarterbacks have dominated the Super Bowl MVP winners. 26 have been quarterbacks including six of the last seven. In fact in the past ten years only quarterbacks and wide receivers have won the Super Bowl MVP award. In other words, the safest bet is on each team’s quarterback though the best value may be each team’s top wide receiver.

SUPER BOWL XLVIII MVP

Bet Peyton Manning +125
Bet Russell Wilson +350

Bet Percy Harvin +1600
Bet Wes Welker +2500