Is the NFL proving the conspiracy theory crowd right?
The league has long been the target of fans who believe that the NFL is scripted, and honestly, with some of the calls we’ve seen the refs make this season, it’s not hard to see why these conspiracy theories pop up.
One conspiracy that’s popped up this season has social media users pointing out that the recent years’ Super Bowl logos have “predicted” who matches up against one another in the big game.
Super Bowl 55’s logo had an orange and yellow color scheme, and the Cincinnati Bengals (orange) and Los Angeles Rams (yellow) played in the game. The logo for Super Bowl 56 featured green and red as its colors, and the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs faced off.
So now, social media users are noticing that Super Bowl 57’s logo features red and purple, leading many to conclude that this year’s culmination of the NFL season will be a matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens (it could have also been the Chiefs against the Minnesota Vikings, but with the Vikings not making the playoffs that possibility was eliminated early on).
So, now that we’re halfway through the divisional round of the playoffs, how is that theory looking?
Well it just so happens that both the 49ers and the Ravens played on the first day of divisional round matchups…and both won their games to move on to the next round.
Now, the Ravens and quarterback Lamar Jackson were clearly the better team against the Houston Texans, which wasn’t at all unexpected and doesn’t really mean much for the conspiracy theory crowd.
But looking at the matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers, that game could have easily gone either way had it not been for a comedy of errors from the Packers.
49ers quarterback Brock Purdy played mediocre all night, with several throws that completely missed their mark. And the Packers made some questionable decisions down the stretch, which along with a dropped pick six, a missed field goal and a failed 4th and 1, helped the 49ers come out on top with a 24-21 victory.
Then there was this blatant miss from the refs on a terrible spot that would have given the Packers a first down…
And this one that was ultimately overturned after Packers coach Matt LaFleur challenged the spot.
Yeah, calls like that are just fodder for the conspiracy theorists…
Not to mention this, from a local news station in Memphis which accidentally reported that the Super Bowl this year would be between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens.
So obviously when the 49ers won last night, the conspiracy theory crowd saw it as validation that the NFL is following the script.
Now, is the more likely explanation that the Ravens and the 49ers were just the better teams? Sure. Are people disappointed to see Jordan Love’s magical season come to an end? Absolutely.
But if there’s one thing the internet loves, it’s a good conspiracy theory. And a conspiracy theory about an organization like the NFL front office that everybody loves to hate is just too good to pass up.
