Super Bowl 2021 preview: Date, time, location, early odds, how to watch on TV, streaming options on CBS

Ladies and gentlemen, the Super Bowl has arrived. After Sunday night’s conference championships, we’re down to just two teams: The Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Patrick Mahomes and the reigning champs made light work of the Buffalo Bills at home on Sunday night, with Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce dominating Sean McDermott’s defense en route to a return trip to Super Sunday. The Bucs, meanwhile, caught the Green Bay Packers off guard in Lambeau, going up early and then holding on against Aaron Rodgers and Co. to send Bruce Arians and Tom Brady to the big game in their first year together.

Now, the Buccaneers and Chiefs will go head to head for the second time this year. And this time, a Lombardi Trophy is on the line. It all comes down to Super Bowl LV, the 55th annual showdown between the best of the best in the NFL. Either way, history will be made, as Brady looks to capture a seventh ring in his 10th Super Bowl appearance and Mahomes looks to go back-to-back as the youngest QB to ever appear in consecutive Super Bowls.

How can you tune in? Where you can stream it? Who’s expected to win?

We’ve got answers to all your Super Bowl questions, right here, right now:

Who’s in the Super Bowl?

This year’s championship will be played between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Chiefs will be making their fourth-ever Super Bowl appearance, representing the AFC (then the AFL) in Super Bowl I against the Packers, then returning to the big game in the 1969 and 2019 seasons. The Bucs will be making just their second Super Bowl appearance in franchise history, and their first in 18 years.

How did they get here?

The Chiefs are no strangers to the Super Bowl, having won it just last season. But this year, they were arguably even more dominant, seemingly going half-speed en route to a 14-2 finish, with Patrick Mahomes returning to the MVP race to help Kansas City lock up the AFC’s No. 1 seed. With an opportunistic defense under Steve Spagnuolo and an offense loaded with the league’s most reliably explosive weapons — from Mahomes to Tyreek Hill to Travis Kelce to, heck, even Mecole Hardman — they fended off a feisty Browns team in the divisional round despite a late head injury to Mahomes, then cruised past the Bills at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday night, claiming their second AFC title in as many seasons.

The Buccaneers haven’t played on Super Sunday since Brad Johnson, Mike Alstott, Simeon Rice, Derrick Brooks and John Lynch were starring on their team back in 2002. But this year, unlike any other before, they had Tom Brady. At 43, Brady hasn’t been perfect, but he’s certainly still been dropping dimes, carrying momentum from a 40-touchdown regular season, when Tampa Bay went 11-5 in its second year under coach Bruce Arians, into the playoffs. After edging Washington in the wild-card round and then riding a big defensive showing over the Saints in New Orleans, the Bucs outdid Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay to claim the NFC title, with Brady throwing deep early and often to give Tampa a two-score lead that the Packers could never surmount.

What happened when they last played?

Great question! And how observant of you, knowing that the Chiefs and Buccaneers met earlier this season — in Week 12, to be exact. When the two sides clashed then, on Nov. 29, the Chiefs went up big early on, taking a 17-0 lead as Tyreek Hill exploded past Tampa Bay’s secondary, but the Bucs pulled within three in the fourth quarter thanks to some of Brady’s own magic. Ultimately, Andy Reid and Co. sealed the victory, 27-24.

When is the Super Bowl?

Super Bowl LV will be played on Sunday, Feb. 7, with kickoff slated for 6:30 p.m. ET.

Where is the Super Bowl?

Super Bowl LV will be played at Raymond James Stadium, home of the Buccaneers, in Tampa, Florida.

This will be the first-ever Super Bowl where one of the participating teams is playing in its own stadium. Raymond James Stadium will be making its third Super Bowl appearance, having hosted before at the end of the 2008 and 2000 seasons. It will be the fifth time that Tampa has played host to a Super Bowl, with the since-demolished Tampa Stadium first holding the big game back in January 1984.

Who’s favored to win?

The reigning champion Chiefs are currently slight favorites in Super Bowl LV, with William Hill Sportsbook have Kansas City as 3-point favorites ahead of Feb. 7’s championship.

And here’s the latest from SportsLine stats specialist Stephen Oh:

Have a feeling that we may have Kansas City as a slightly higher favorite after the stats from Sunday are processed, but the initial forecast has the Chiefs as a 55 percent favorite to beat Tampa Bay with an average sim score of Chiefs 28, Buccaneers 26.

How to watch Super Bowl LV

Below, you’ll find all the ways you can tune into Super Bowl LV, whether on TV or via streaming:

TV: CBS | Stream: FREE on CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports App

How to watch pre-game coverage

This year, CBS Sports is offering extensive access to pre-game Super Bowl LV coverage.

CBS Sports HQ, the 24/7 streaming sports news network available for free across digital platforms, services and connected devices, will be live from Tampa during the week leading up to CBS Sports’ live stream of the game. Beginning Monday, Feb. 1, CBS Sports HQ will deliver on-site programming and reports throughout each day, and on game day will stream live pre-game coverage, plus post-game analysis and highlights.

Starting at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, Feb. 7, CBS Sports’ streaming coverage will also be available to viewers across an expanded lineup of platforms and devices, including unauthenticated at CBSSports.com and on the CBS Sports app for OTT devices and services, smart TVs and mobile devices.