The One Post You Need To Read To Win Money On The Super Bowl

Super Bowl XLIV Analysis

In a season marked by stark contrast between the elite and the drastically inferior, where each week seemed to bring more blowouts than drama and the playoffs mostly brought more of the same, the Super Bowl surprisingly and enjoyably pits two evenly-matched teams that also happened to have had the two best seasons in the NFL this year.

This is not a game of contrasting styles. The Indianapolis Colts, having played against essentially a league-average schedule, tout an efficient offense focused on the pass, one of the more impressive pass defenses in the league and a smart approach that minimizes mistakes. The New Orleans Saints, also having played against a league-average schedule, flaunt an efficient offense that is more balanced, yet still thrives on the pass, a better-than-average defense when healthy and an aggressive approach that forces opponents into mistakes. If mindset and mistakes ultimately make the difference in this game, the team that is as good as any in the league at not making them (Indianapolis) will prevail over the team that is the best at forcing them (New Orleans) - barely.

Using strength-of-schedule-adjusted, play-by-play statistics, the Predictalator played Super Bowl XLIV 50,000 times before it's actually played. The Colts won 51.4% of those games by an average score of 28 - 27.