The Baltimore Ravens opened as a 5-point underdog in Super Bowl XLVII, but that hasn't stopped a number of NFL analysts from picking the Ravens to beat the San Francisco 49ers. Plenty of experts are picking the 49ers as well, but it's Baltimore which is the slight favorite to win.
Super Bowl 2013 predictions for Ravens vs. 49ers: Ravens a slight favorite among analysts
NFL experts have made their Super Bowl picks and the Baltimore Ravens are a slight favorite among the experts, despite being an underdog in the game.
USA TODAY Sports
For more Super Bowl coverage, check out Niners Nation and Baltimore Beatdown
The eight NFL analysts from CBS Sports were nearly unanimous in picking the Ravens as only Dave Richard picked San Francisco. This isn't the first time the majority of CBS analysts picked against San Francisco as seven of the eight also picked the Green Bay Packers in the Divisional round. Once again, Richard was the only expert to pick the 49ers. Even though, seven of the eight are picking Baltimore to win the Super Bowl, not many predicted the Ravens would make it to New Olreans. Only Jason La Canfora correctly picked Baltimore would win the AFC Championship. Six of the eight picked San Francisco would win the NFC Championship.
Yahoo! Sports’ NFL analysts are also in Baltimore’s favor as both Mike Silver and Les Carpenter picked the Ravens. This is the second time each has picked the Ravens this postseason. Silver picked Baltimore in the Wild Card round against Indianapolis while Carpenter correctly predicted the Ravens would knock off New England in the AFC Championship.
The 49ers, however, aren’t an underdog among all NFL analysts. Of the 11 ESPN NFL analysts who have submitted their prediction, eight picked San Francisco. That shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise as nine of the 11 also picked San Francisco in the NFC Championship game. Tom Jackson, Ron Jaworski and Mike Golic picked Baltimore. Golic has had the best success among all ESPN analysts, correctly predicting nine of the 10 playoff games this season.
Nate Silver, who became well known for correctly predicting the presidential election, also weighed in on the Super Bowl. Looking at results from previous games and using some statistics which evaluate offense and defense, Silver determined that the team with the highly-ranked defense is more likely to win. With that in mind, Silver picked San Francisco to take home the Lombardi Trophy.
See More:
