Super Bowl 2018 pick, odds: Patriots take down Eagles in Minnesota thriller
Wondering who will take home the Lombardi Trophy? You've come to the right place to find out
It's officially Super Bowl week, which means all eyes in the NFL world will be on Minnesota between now and Sunday. On the other hand, maybe there won't be any eyes on Minnesota because they'll all be frozen shut due to the arctic temperatures in Minneapolis that are expected this week.
It's Superbowl Week. When does the Media start Complaining about the Weather in Minneapolis?
— Timothy Hernandez (@TimHZZ) January 29, 2018
Great question, Tim. And I think that answer is right now.
So which side of the Super Bowl line do you need to be all over? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of Patriots-Eagles you need to jump on, plus what X-factor determines the outcome, all from a Vegas legend who's 9-3 on Eagles' games.
If you know anything about the media, then you probably already that we love to complain about things and for the most part, weather is usually at the top of our list of things to complain about. Not just any weather, though, we only complain about cold weather, and that's exactly what's being forecasted this week.
Bless this balmy weather in Minneapolis for the #SuperBowl this week! pic.twitter.com/nWxRm6a2dB
— Andrew Jerell Jones (@sluggahjells) January 30, 2018
I mean, a low of negative-7 on Saturday! Can humans even survive in that kind of weather?
You know what? I don't even care if they can or not, I'm just going to embrace it for the five days I'll be in Minnesota this week. Yup, you heard that right, I'm going to be in Minneapolis, which means now is the perfect time to start following me on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram. I also might send out at least one update on MySpace, if I can remember my password.
One thing I won't be doing in Minnesota is complaining about the weather and that's because I'll be way too busy. As of right now, I plan on spending half my week at Mall of America, half my week fighting polar bears with my bare hands, and another half of my week taking selfies with anyone who looks like they might have been an extra in any of the "Might Ducks" movies.
As for the actual Super Bowl, I'm fully expecting the game to go completely off the rails. If Justin Timberlake rides into his halftime show on an actual woolly mammoth, that won't even be one-eighth as crazy as I'm expecting the Super Bowl to be.
I mean just think about it. The last time two times we saw the Patriots in the Super Bowl, they gave us two of the best games in NFL history.
Should Marshawn have gotten the ball at the one-yard line? Probably.
Should the Falcons have run the ball the entire second half after taking a 28-3 lead? Almost definitely. But neither of those things happened, which begs the question: What incredibly bad coaching decision will the Eagles make on Sunday that will end up costing them the game?
Anyway, that's just the past two Patriots' Super Bowls. On the Eagles end, their past two Super Bowls have also gotten crazy. If you need a quick refresher, we have the Donovan McNabb puke game from February 2005, where McNabb may or may not have puked, and let's not forget about the time the Eagles' mascot got beaten up on the sideline during a fictional Super Bowl against the Dolphins.
I still have a lot of questions about that scene. I mean, I still don't know who won that Super Bowl or why the Eagles' mascot was hanging by the Dolphins' team bench or how Ace got on the sideline with no visible credential. However, I'm not going to worry about those questions now because I have a bigger question to worry about: Who's going to win Super Bowl LII?
It's time to get to my final game pick of the 2017 season.
Actually, before we get to the pick, you're definitely going to want to click over and check out the Super Bowl picks made by our other NFL writers here at CBSSports.com. My CBSSports.com colleague, Ryan Wilson, has gone 8-2 with his picks against the spread during the playoffs and he's done that by basically picking all underdogs. I'm not sure if he's been wearing a dog mask while making his picks, but I wouldn't be surprised, because he's all-in on the Eagles for the Super Bowl and the Eagles love dog masks.
BRANDON GRAHAM IS ANSWERING QUESTIONS IN A DOG MASK pic.twitter.com/Qg4DZ2kkLS
— SB Nation GIF (@SBNationGIF) January 30, 2018
On a somewhat related note, I think this might be the closest we've ever gotten to getting a Puppy Bowl Media Day at the Super Bowl.
Alright, let's get to the pick.
Super Bowl LII Pick
Philadelphia (15-3) vs. New England (15-3) at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis
TV: 6:30 p.m. ET, NBC
Line: Patriots, -4.5 points
All I've been doing for the past five days is watching the Tom Brady documentary on Facebook, which might sound like an incredibly boring way to spend five days, but I actually found it quite fascinating. If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times, you never really know someone until you've watched a five-part documentary about them on Facebook.
Unfortunately for me, I guess I'll never truly know Nick Foles because Facebook didn't make a documentary about him. However, someone did make "Napoleon Dynamite," which is kind of the same thing.
Nick Foleseon Dynamite has arrived in Minnesota (arrival 📷 by @JoeGiza) pic.twitter.com/ZkTyVHTQus
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) January 29, 2018
There's going to be a lot of talk this week about whether or not Foles is going to be able to have any success against a Patriots defense that will have had two weeks to prepare for him, but that's not actually the matchup that concerns me the most for the Eagles.
My biggest concern is the fact that Philly defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz has had some serious trouble stopping the Patriots during his 17 years as a head coach or defensive coordinator.
Patriots offense vs Jim Schwartz defense (as DC or HC)
— Rich Hill (@PP_Rich_Hill) January 22, 2018
2002: TEN 24; NE 7
2003: NE 38; TEN 30
2003 PO: NE 17; TEN 14
2006: NE 40; TEN 23
2010: NE 45; DET 24
2014: NE 37; BUF 22
2014 BUF 17; NE 9 (Patriots rested starters in finale)
If you throw out that game where the Patriots were resting their starters, Schwartz has gone 0-3 in his past three meetings against New England and his defenses have given up an average of 40.3 points per game. It's almost like the Patriots know what Schwartz is thinking before he actually thinks it. In those three New England wins, Brady has averaged 309 yards per and three touchdown passes per game.
Of course, we probably should't be surprised if the Eagles can't stop Brady because nothing has been able to stop Brady this season. I thought for sure the Sports Illustrated jinx would get him, but it didn't.
A new @SInow cover, just in time for #TomTuesday. pic.twitter.com/xC8XNsYcDf
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) August 29, 2017
I also thought the "Madden" curse would get him, but it didn't. And then, when that didn't happen, I thought for sure the Jaguars would break him, but that didn't happen, either.
Brady is so good that he might have actually put an end to all sports curses. The man is taunting Father Time, he doesn't believe in jinxes and he's on the verge of winning his sixth Super Bowl. Oh, and since I'm talking about Brady, now seems like a good time to mention the fact that he's played in as many Super Bowls as EVERY PLAYER on the Eagles roster combined.
Entering SuperBowl Lll, Tom Brady has played in 7 Super Bowls in his career, as many as the entire Eagles roster combined (7)
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) January 23, 2018
I think that means we can safely say, "Advantage, Brady" in the Super Bowl experience department. The only way I can see the Patriots losing this game is if Brady gets sacked five or more times, and you know Bill Belichick already knows that's their most likely route to losing, so he'll do everything in his power to devise a gameplan to make sure that doesn't happen.
By the way, Belichick showed up to the Super Bowl in a fedora and if there's one rule to picking NFL games, it's "Never pick against a guy who's wearing a fedora," and there's just simply no way I'm breaking that rule this week.
LOOK: Bill Belichick arrived in Minnesota wearing a fedora and nobody saw it coming https://t.co/zQT10VDPyY pic.twitter.com/QGIdtf9qFY
— Eye on Football (@EyeOnNFL) January 30, 2018
Back on Sept. 4, 2017, I said the Patriots would win Super Bowl LII and that Tom Brady would be named Super Bowl MVP and I see no reason to change my mind about those two things now. Also, this pick is for the safety of Philadelphia, because I'm not sure that city will be standing if the Eagles manage to win this game.
Super Bowl LII pick: Patriots 30-23 over Eagles
Record picking Patriots games this season: 11-7 (includes 1-1 in playoffs)
Record picking Eagles games this season: 13-5 (includes 0-2 in playoffs)
Get more picks from CBSSports.com's Pete Prisco, Will Brinson, Ryan Wilson and Jared Dubin.
Last Week
Best pick: After embarrassing myself with my AFC and NFC Championship game picks, I don't deserve to have a "best pick" section this week, so I'm giving this space to Alshon Jeffery, who is basically one Eagles win away from the best "best pick" of all-time. You see, back in January 2017, Jeffery guaranteed that he was going to win the Super Bowl this year, which was an absurd thing to say, because at the time he made the guarantee, he was still playing for the Bears. And as we all know, there was no way the Bears were going to win anything this season. Of course, Jeffery must have clearly realized that the Bears were going nowhere because he ditched Chicago and signed with the Eagles in March and took his Super Bowl guarantee with him. If you're wondering how exactly that works, it's because Jeffery guaranteed that his team would win the Super Bowl, but he never said which team he would be playing for in 2017.
“I guarantee you we will win the Super Bowl next year’’ — Alshon Jeffery on Jan. 1, 2017
— ChicagoSports (@ChicagoSports) January 22, 2018
To be fair, he never specified which team would make his prediction come true.https://t.co/oU62oNgvs6 via @DavidHaugh pic.twitter.com/PaMvVH1ACW
The best part about Jeffrey's guarantee is that it basically comes with free beer. If the Eagles win the Super Bowl, then the people of Philadelphia are going to be getting hooked up with some free Bud Light.
Bud Light promised in August to buy beer for everyone in Philadelphia if the Eagles won the Super Bowl and we're now just one win away from total chaos. #Eagles #FlyEaglesFly https://t.co/RZAPeCjZDB pic.twitter.com/iPvjZANRuX
— John Breech (@johnbreech) January 22, 2018
Drunk Eagles fans celebrating a Super Bowl win with free alcohol? That basically sounds like the plot to the next "Purge" movie. I mean, the script practically writes itself: All non-Eagles fans must stay in their house for 24 hours because all crime is legal during the Eagles' Super Bowl celebration.
I see we're off to a good start in Philly "The fight was between Eagles' fans and the police officers, and it doesn't appear any Vikings' fans were involved." https://t.co/c1T5ZTGmE9
— Bryant Johnson (@BryantJohnson1) January 21, 2018
Yup, that's a "Purge" movie. I'm thinking Bradley Cooper could star.
@Eagles Bradley cooper pic.twitter.com/n3uMgMefEn
— Quinn Kiernan (@quinnkiernan) November 15, 2015
And he'd definitely need to wear that.
Worst pick: Last week, I jumped on the "defense wins championships" bandwagon and then drove it straight off a cliff. The Vikings and Jaguars had the two best defenses in the NFL in 2017, so I picked them both to win and that totally blew up in my face when neither of them won. On the other hand, now that I'm looking back on it, I'm kind of glad I went 0-2 with my picks and I'm definitely glad I didn't go 2-0 because I'm not sure just how excited America would have been for a Vikings-Jaguars Super Bowl.
all 96 people watching a vikings-jaguars super bowl gonna have a great time
— harsh (@IamHarshDave) January 21, 2018
Ninety-six people watching might have been optimistic. With Eagles-Patriots, the advantage for the NFL is that everyone is going to watch the game. Half of America will be watching because they'll be cheering for one of the two teams and the other half of the country will be hate-watching the game.
My hate for the Eagles is greater than my hate for the Patriots
— Cameron Magruder (@ScooterMagruder) January 22, 2018
I don't like the patriots or the eagles but... I hate the eagles a little more so the only time you'll ever see me post this #GoPats
— The Father (@nathanael_scot) January 30, 2018
Boy i hate the patriots.. but man I really hate the eagles.
— Kyle Miller (@kmillz_33) January 29, 2018
As much as I’d hate to see the eagles win, I would love to see the patriots lose more.
— Morgan Verstuyft (@morganv_15) January 28, 2018
Just remember, if you're hate-watching the Super Bowl this year, you're not alone. You can also hate-watch the Bachelor, a lot of people do that, too.
Alright everyone, that's it for this year's picks. My contract says I'll be back next season, so I'll see you then, unless I freeze to death in Minnesota, which seems completely in the realm of possibility.
Playoffs
Straight up in the championship round: 0-2
SU overall in playoffs: 4-6
Against the spread in championship round: 1-1
ATS overall in playoffs: 4-6
Final 2017 regular-season record
Straight up: 161-95
Against the spread: 124-121-11
All-time record picking Super Bowls at CBS Sports
Straight-up: 2-2
Against the spread: 2-2
You can find John Breech on Facebook or Twitter and if he's not doing one of those things, he's probably preparing for Minnesota by taking a bath in an ice-filled tub.
















