With the Super coming up soon and the fact it is probably the most bet upon sporting event thought we would look at the coin toss (one of the prop bets that can be made) since this is one of many things people bet on for the big game.

In 48 Super Bowls the opening coin toss has come up heads 24 times and tails 24 times. The NFC has won the toss 32 times out of 45 with their streak of 14 straight years broken in 2012 by the New England Patriots who were the last AFC team to win the coin toss in 1997. NFC team winning 15 of the last 17 flips heading into Super Bowl XLIX. Teams winning the toss have gone on to win 24 of the first 48 Super Bowls, with heads and tails each turning up an even 12 times during those wins.

The coin flip result has had several streaks of same coin side. Streaks of 4 in a row occurred in Super Bowls 24-27 4 heads; 32-35 4 tails; 37-40 4 tails; and one streak of 5 43-45 5 heads broken in Super Bowl 48 (6 of last 8 Super Bowls came up Heads).
The Seahawks’ win bucked a recent trend, with only two of the previous eight teams winning with tails going on to claim the Super Bowl title.

While the coin toss can have a serious impact on a game, determining which team receives the ball on the opening kickoffs in each half, it hasn’t always been kind to teams that have made multiple Super Bowl appearances.
The New England Patriots have made seven Super Bowl appearances, losing the toss in each of their three victories in Super Bowls 36, 38 and 39, but getting blown out by the Green Bay Packers as a coin toss winner in Super Bowl 31 before getting upset by the New York Giants after winning the toss in Super Bowl 46.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have also defied the coin toss in their six Super Bowl victories, winning the toss just once, with tails in their 16-6 win over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl 9. Indeed, opponents winning the toss with heads are just 1-4 against the Steelers on Super Sunday.
San Francisco 49ers fans will put a lot of stock into the Super Bowl coin toss. The Niners are a perfect 4-0 in Super Bowls where they have won the toss, which has come up tails in three of their four championship victories.
The Dallas Cowboys have won the toss on six of their eight trips to the Super Bowl, although it wasn’t until their fourth Super Bowl appearance that Dallas went on to victory after winning the toss.
4 Heads in a row has a chance of happening 1 in 16 times (6.25%) and 5 heads in a row is 1 in 32 chances (3.125%). With 48 Super Bowl results we are close to expected results.

If you are looking to bet on the coin toss, good luck. With 48 Super Bowls worth of data your bet would just be a guess since nothing the data is giving you an edge.

Raw data from: http://www.docsports.com/super-bowl-coin-toss-history.html
Trend information: http://www.oddsshark.com/super-bowl/props/coin-toss
Probability Calculator for coin toss: http://www.mathcelebrity.com/cointoss.php

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