Scoring first is important in the Super Bowl

By JERRY TAPP

The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers face off in the Super Bowl this Sunday in Miami.

Will it be a high-scoring game, as many experts are predicting? Will having the lead at halftime of the Super Bowl make a difference? Will it be a close game?

To give some insight to those questions (and potential answers), let’s look at some of the points stats in the previous 53 Super Bowls.

SCORING FIRST
* The team that scores first in the Super Bowl is 36-17 (.679)

FIRST QUARTER
* Teams that were scoreless in the first quarter were 15-29 (.341)
* Teams that scored in the first quarter were 38-24 (.613)
* Teams that scored 10 or more points in the first quarter were 11-6 (.647)
* Teams that scored 13 or more points in the first quarter were 7-2 (.778)

HALFTIME
* Teams that scored in each of the first two quarters were 32-14 (.696)
* Teams that were scoreless at halftime were 0-13
* Teams that scored 17 or more points in the first half were 20-2 (.909)
* Teams that had the lead at halftime were 39-11 (.780)

GOING INTO THE FOURTH QUARTER
* Teams that scored in each of the first three quarters were 27-7 (.794)
* Teams that had the lead going into the fourth quarter were 41-10 (.804)
* Teams that had a lead of 10 points or more going into the fourth quarter were 29-2 (.935)
* There have been only four teams that were scoreless going into the fourth quarter: Baltimore (1969 Super Bowl), Washington (1973 Super Bowl), Minnesota (1974 and 1975 Super Bowls).

FINAL SCORE
* Both teams scoring 30 or more points in a Super Bowl game has happened only three times: Jan. 21, 1979, Pittsburgh 35, Dallas 31; Feb. 3, 2013, Baltimore 34, San Francisco 31; February 4, 2018, Philadelphia 41, New England 33 (the Patriots 33 points is the most points scored by a team that lost the Super Bowl).
* There were six times where the team that won the Super Bowl scored less than 20 points. Four of those six times were in the first 10 Super Bowls. The last time was last year when the Patriots beat the L.A. Rams 13-3. The Pats 13 points was the fewest points scored to win a Super Bowl.
* Teams that scored 30 or more points in a Super Bowl game were 27-3 (.900).
* In the first 10 Super Bowls, the average score was 22.2-9.1 (31.3 average total points scored). In the last 10 Super Bowls, the average score was 30.0-19.6 (49.6 average total points scored).
* Twenty of the 53 previous Super Bowls were decided by one score (eight points or less). Twelve of the 53 previous Super Bowls were decided by 20 points or more.
* Of the 20 Super Bowls decided by eight points or less, 11 of them have happened since 2000 and six have happened since 2010.
* In the last 22 Super Bowls, 13 were decided by less than 10 points.
* The average margin of victory in the first 10 Super Bowls was 13.1. The average margin of victory in the last 10 Super Bowls was 9.8.
* The two teams in the Super Bowl have combined to score 60 or more points in 10 Super Bowls.
* The 16 combined points by the Patriots and Rams in last year’s Super Bowl was the fewest for any Super Bowl game.
* There have been 12 20-point (or more) blowouts in the Super Bowl, the last coming in 2013 when the Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos 43-8. Only three of the last 16 Super Bowls have been decided by 14 or more points.

DID YOU KNOW?
* Since 2000, the New England Patriots have appeared in nine of those 19 Super Bowls, winning six and losing three.

Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp