The recent AFC Championship Game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals sparked off a social media frenzy with the hashtag “NFL rigged” trending on Twitter. This was due to some questionable officiating decisions during the match.
However, popular sports analyst Colin Cowherd has a different take on the matter. In Cowherd’s opinion, if the NFL was actually rigged, it would do a much better job at it.
He humorously imagines a shadowy figure in the NFL saying “Ok, let’s rig the league by having mega brands like the Steelers, Packers miss the playoffs & put the Jags in. Also, have key TV markets like DC, NY, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta be consistently bad. Oh yea, always bounce popular Dallas from the playoffs early.”
Shadowy NFL figure “Ok, let’s rig the league by having mega brands like the Steelers, Packers miss the playoffs & put the Jags in. Also, have key TV markets like DC, NY, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta be consistently bad. Oh yea, always bounce popular Dallas from the playoffs early.”
— Colin Cowherd (@ColinCowherd) January 31, 2023
Cowherd argues that a rigged league wouldn’t undermine the potential of a young, promising quarterback like Joe Burrow, who is set to be a key figure in the NFL in the coming years.
Cowherd also points out that a rigged league wouldn’t have led to a quarterback injury in the NFC Championship Game, which resulted in a less-than-exciting match. He believes that people tend to believe in conspiracy theories because it’s easier than accepting defeat or the human fallibility of referees.
The Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles is set to take place on February 12th, and there’s no denying that the officiating won’t be perfect. However, Cowherd believes that this doesn’t automatically mean the NFL has handpicked a winner.
In conclusion, Cowherd’s witty take on the “NFL rigged” claims serves as a reminder that sometimes, the simpler explanation is the right one. Referees are human and make mistakes, and there’s no need to look for conspiracies in every aspect of the game.
