NFL Super Bowl Contenders Hit Hard by Early Season Injuries

To win the Super Bowl, you have to be good, and you also have to be lucky. Chief among the good luck a team is hoping to have is injury luck. Injuries have always been a part of the NFL, and every season, championship dreams are altered by untimely absences from key players.

Here at the start of the 2024 season, those absences are beginning to mount.

Kansas City Chiefs (+450 to win Super Bowl)

The Kansas City Chiefs have been the best team in the league over the last five years, and one of the healthiest. However, this season, the injuries are stacking up.

KC’s big off-season offensive acquisition was wide receiver Hollywood Brown. But he injured his shoulder in the preseason, and this past weekend it was revealed that it wasn’t healing well and would now require surgery. That surgery is going to keep him out of the entire regular season, with the outside possibility that he could return for the playoffs.

This past Sunday, in the Chiefs win over the Cincinnati Bengals, they also lost running back Isiah Pacheco to a fractured fibula, and following surgery this week, he will need at least six weeks of rehab. He’s been placed on IR.

San Francisco 49ers (+600 to win Super Bowl)

The Chiefs get no sympathy from oddsmakers’ second betting favorite to win the Super Bowl, the San Francisco 49ers.

The 49ers had to begin the season without preseason Offensive Player of the Year favorite Christian McCaffrey because of a calf injury. Now he is on IR because of Achilles tendinitis that may sideline him for another six weeks. McCaffrey was +750 to win OPOY before the season, and now he is taking bets at +10000.

This coming Sunday, in their NFC West matchup against the Los Angeles Rams, the 49ers will also be without wide receiver Deebo Samuel because of a calf strain he suffered in San Francisco’s loss at Minnesota. Head coach Kyle Shanahan says Samuel will miss “a couple” of weeks.

Los Angeles Rams (-110 to Make Playoffs before Week 1)

Speaking of the Rams and no sympathy, when the season kicked off, L.A. was favored to be a playoff team, paying -110. Today, they are paying +500 to make the playoffs because of a decimated offense.

Last year’s rookie wide receiver sensation, Puka Nacua, is on IR with a PCL strain, and he might miss as many as seven games because of the knee injury. This week, he was joined on the injured list by wide receiver Cooper Kupp, who suffered an ankle injury that is likely to land him on the IR and force him to miss at least four weeks. Head coach Sean McVay couldn’t be more specific than “an extended period of time.”

Also injured for the Rams are offensive lineman Jonah Jackson (shoulder), Steve Avila (knee), and Joe Notebloom (ankle), and the team is still waiting on a timeline for tight end Tyler Higbee’s return from the torn knee ligaments he suffered in the playoffs last season.

Philadelphia Eagles (-135 to win NFC East)

On Monday night, the Philadelphia Eagles played their first game of the season in North America, and they suffered their first loss at the hands of the Atlanta Falcons. Part of what cost them in the game was the absence of top wide receiver A.J. Brown, and as they head to New Orleans this week, they will still be without Brown.

Brown told reporters that his strained hamstring would cost him multiple weeks of football, which is not good for Philadelphia, with road games at the 2-0 Saints and 2-0 Tampa Bay Buccaneers next on the schedule.

Quarterback Injuries

The Green Bay Packers (+120 to make the playoffs) were without quarterback Jordan Love in Week 2, and word out of Green Bay is that he is targeting a possible return by Week 5.

There is no timeline for a possible Tua Tagovailoa return for the Miami Dolphins. But even with their uncertainty at quarterback, the Dolphins remain -115 to make the playoffs. Tagovailoa does say that he will return at some point. He is not going to retire after suffering his reported third concussion in two years.

The Los Angeles Chargers were holding their collective breaths after Justin Herbert’s ankle was rolled up on in Sunday’s win at the Carolina Panthers, and head coach Jim Harbaugh has since exhaled. He said X-rays were negative, and the 2-0 Chargers remain -115 to make the playoffs.