Super Bowl bet to make after Week 15: Vikings vs. Bills

Could we finally have a first-time Super Bowl champion again?

I think so. This is the year. I can feel it ... or maybe I'm just cold.

NO! I've got this, sports fans.

There are 12 NFL franchises that have not won a Super Bowl since the first one was played in 1967.

They are: the Bengals, Bills, Browns, Cardinals, Chargers, Falcons, Jaguars, Lions, Panthers, Texans, Titans and Vikings. The Browns, Jaguars, Lions and Texans have never reached the Super Bowl.

That changes in 2025 (Sunday, Feb. 9).

Here's a fun stat: The average age of a Super Bowl-winning quarterback is 28, which Allen turned in May.

Darnold is 27.

Trent Dilfer, whom Darnold is being compared to in some ways, was 28 when he guided the Baltimore Ravens to their first Super Bowl victory ever in 2001 against the Giants in SB XXXV (that's 35 for you that don't do Roman numerals).

But the better comparison is to current Buc Baker Mayfield, who's having an NFL-quarterback-renaissance career like Darnold.

They both were big-time players in college and high-draft picks (Mayfield was No. 1 overall in 2017) but the outlier is Allen?

How does he wind up in Wyoming in the first place? That's a story for another day, which I'm working on, but that was the only Division I program to offer the skinny kid a scholarship after high school. Allen grew up in Firebaugh, California, a small town 40 miles west of Fresno, the state school where he wanted to play but was not offered.

It sounds a bit like Steph Curry proving doubters wrong by lighting it up at Davidson, doesn't it?

Only 12 NFL franchises have never won a Super Bowl. Here they are with their number of appearances.

Arizona Cardinals (1 appearance)

Atlanta Falcons (2)

Buffalo Bills (4)

Carolina Panthers (2)

Cincinnati Bengals (3)

Cleveland Browns (0)

Detroit Lions (0)

Houston Texans (0)

Jacksonville Jaguars (0)

Los Angeles Chargers (1)

Minnesota Vikings (4)

Tennessee Titans (1)

One of these teams wins the Lombardi Trophy in 2025.

This has been a crazy year -- can we all agree on that, at least? -- so I forsee a Super Bowl for the ages: Buffalo vs. Minnesota.

Four-time losers each and teams you have to love.

Now granted, the Vikings need to stay healthy and finally figure out a running game, and while their schedule over the final three weeks isn't ideal, I can see them winning all three of these:

Minnesota at Seattle (Dec. 22), Green Bay at Minnesota (Dec. 29), and then Minnesota at Detroit (Jan. 5).

The Lions are losing their roar lately because of serious injuries to key players. Plus, as a colleague and many others have correctly pointed out, playoff decisions made by wildman head coach Dan Campbell could be costly.

The Chiefs are banged up too and they end their season with two road games in certain cities where I would not want to play in December: at Pittsburgh (Dec. 25) and at Denver (Jan. 5)

Bills are due in January and they're gonna leapfrog them for the No. 1 seed.

Mark it, Donny! An.

So, what does this all mean.

That right now you can make a wager on which two teams will face-mask off in the Super Bowl.

And thanks to DraftKings, there will no doubt be a prop bet available on that aforementioned, definitely-happening penalty that's bound to occur on Super Bowl Sunday.

Until then, DK is offering 19-1 odds (bet a tenner to win nearly two hundo) on this: Vikings vs. Bills for Super Bowl 59 (LIX).

Longshots keep winning of late. In 2025, it's the Bills' year ... unless it's the Vikes'.

But bet on both to make it.

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