Chiefs vs. Bucs Super Bowl 55 odds, props, trends: Carl Cheffers will referee; Kansas City unbeaten in his games under Patrick Mahomes

When it comes to the Super Bowl, no stone is left unturned when it comes to betting information. You won't catch us at SportsLine breaking down a referee's patterns in any other NFL game, but it would be a disservice to not examine what we might learn from the fact that Carl Cheffers will referee Sunday's Super Bowl 55 between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Kansas City fans will like one statistic ... so will those betting Under the total of 56.

Cheffers, in his 21st season as an official, will be refereeing his second Super Bowl as he also was in charge during Super Bowl LI between Tom Brady's New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons. Of course, the Pats were down 28-3 late in the third quarter but won 34-28 in overtime in Houston – still the only Super Bowl OT. The Pats were 3-point favorites and the total was set at 57.5 (highest in SB history), so obviously the favorite covered and the total went Over.

According to information from our friends at the Action Network and using data since 2008 when Cheffers was promoted to referee, playoff underdogs are 4-5 against the spread in games Cheffers has been the referee and the Under is a stunning 8-1; that Patriots-Falcons Super Bowl would have been the lone Over. In regular-season games refereed by Cheffers, underdogs are 103-88-3 ATS and the Over/Under is 99-92-3.

Cheffers was the referee for the Ravens-Bills divisional round game, and Buffalo was a 17-3 home winner, covering as a 2.5-point favorite and the total going well Under 49.5 points. There were eight penalties for 59 yards called on the visiting Ravens and two for 11 yards on the home Bills. We will get to penalty props shortly. Usually, home teams have an advantage in terms of fewer penalties called because of the crowd, which helps force delay of game or offside calls on the visitors because of noise. Needless to say, that wasn't really an issue this season because of few/no fans in stadiums.

Cheffers has not done a Buccaneers game this season. He did two Chiefs games: Kansas City's 23-20 overtime win at the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 2; and KC's 35-31 victory in Las Vegas in Week 11. The underdogs covered in both.

Since Patrick Mahomes took over as the starting quarterback in 2018, the Chiefs are 5-0 straight up in games Cheffers has refereed:

• Week 10, 2018 – Chiefs beat visiting Cardinals 26-14
• Week 1, 2019 – Chiefs won 40-26 in Jacksonville
• Week 16, 2019 – Chiefs won 26-3 in Chicago
• Week 2, 2020 – Chiefs won 23-20 in OT at Chargers
• Week 11, 2020 – Chiefs won 35-31 at Las Vegas

Including playoffs, Cheffers has been the referee in 16 games this season. His crew called 199 penalties for 1,620 yards, an average of 12.4 penalties for 101.3 yards. A total of 86 penalties (43.2 percent) were called on the home team and the home team's winning percentage in those games was 44 percent.

The league average for all referees this season was for home teams to be called for 48.4 percent of all penalties and home clubs with a winning percentage of exactly 50. League averages for penalties overall were 11.1 for 95.7 yards.

William Hill Sportsbook lists and Over/Under of 10.5 penalties accepted in Super Bowl 55, with the Over a slight favorite. The longest accepted penalty is O/U 19.5 yards. Kansas City is -140 to have the most penalty yards and Tampa Bay, the home team, +120. That the team with the most penalties wins the game is +110 with no at -130.

In Cheffers' crew is down judge Sarah Thomas, who will become the first woman to ever officiate in a Super Bowl. Umpire Fred Bryan, line judge Rusty Baynes, field judge James Coleman, side judge Eugene Hall, back judge Dino Paganelli and replay official Mike Wimmer round out the group.

"The referee that is working our game, Carl Cheffers, has done a couple of games this year, so he knows us, we know him," Chiefs coach Andy Reid said to the Kansas City Star. "Bryan, the umpire, we know him, the back judge, all these guys have worked our games and/or been in our training camp in years past."

Which Super Bowl prop bets are a must-bet? And which prop pays a colossal 7-1? Join SportsLine now to see the top Super Bowl 55 prop bets, all from the model that's up almost $7,900 on top-rated NFL picks.