The Super Bowl Prediction System – 49ers by a landslide

It has been six years since a Super Bowl failed to feature at least one elite passing offense. Since Super Bowl XL between the Steelers and Seahawks, twice we’ve seen Manning’s Colts, twice we’ve seen Brady’s Patriots, once we’ve seen Warner’s Cardinals, once we’ve seen Brees’ Saints, and once we’ve seen Rodgers’ Packers. This year, we get a matchup between a pair of defensive-minded teams, the 49ers and the Ravens, that each earned their ticket by eliminating one or more elite passing teams.

Hopefully, this throwback game will be just what the Super Bowl Prediction System needs to get back to its winning ways. The system has made the incorrect prediction the last two years and four of the last six. However, the system continues to have a positive overall record of 28-14 (with four non-selections) and is 16 of the last 22, which is 73 percent.

The Super Bowl Prediction System tends to favor defense over offense, in general, so you might expect the Ravens and 49ers to be evenly matched. The oddsmakers share that sentiment, having the 49ers favored by a small margin, a little bit more than a field goal at -3.5. However, the prediction system indicators show the 49ers to be overwhelming favorites:

We use 12 indicators to predict the winner. As you can see from the Win Percentage column, each one of these indicators predicts the winner more than half the time. But taken together, the Super Bowl Prediction System is even more successful. The 49ers have the edge in all but two of the indicators. The lone Ravens advantage is in points scored during the regular season, and they only beat the 49ers by a single point, 398-397. The 10 categories the 49ers won were mostly convincing victories, including a 350.9 to 294.4 edge in opponent total yards per game and 2,491 to 1,901 edge in rushing yards for the season. The Ravens did throw for more passing yards for the season with 3,739 to 3,298, but teams with more passing yards lose the Super Bowl more often than they win it.

Here’s the most significant aspect of this year’s prediction. Prior to this matchup, 10 Super Bowl teams had 10 or more of the 12 indicators in their favor. Nine of those 10 teams went on the win the game, most recently in the 2008-2009 season when the Steelers beat the Cardinals. Interestingly, the one team that failed to win a game with a 10-category advantage was the first team with that advantage, the Vikings in the 1969-1970 season’s Super Bowl. The Ravens will attempt to be the first team to beat those odds in 43 years.