Look, Bengals fans are hurting. They haven’t made a Super Bowl since 1988 and it’s understandable that they are going to lash out with #rigged after losing Super Bowl LVI. But that doesn’t mean they are wrong. Out of respect I conducted some forensic statistics to give them a fair trial to see if there’s anything to this claim no matter how straw grasping it all might be. And I have to say, I may have gaslit myself here.
Before diving into the pro-rigged arguments let’s first start with the centerpiece argument for why the game WASN’T rigged: the clear uncalled face mask by Tee Higgins on the long touchdown. This is what everyone shoots back with because it was such an obvious infraction, no ref could have ever in a million years missed it. But… somehow… they did. Did anyone stop to think why this might be? While it certainly appeared this should have been a true flag, might it have also been a false flag too? No one was blocking the view of the play from the refs and it was clear as day for all to see as Jalen Ramsey’s head turned so hard I’m pretty sure I saw him spit out a mouth full of cervical disks. So the question now is: what’s really more likely?
1 – The refs missed a face mask penalty OK – it happens
2 – The refs totally saw it and let it go so everyone could see it on TV and do their bidding by using this non-call early enough in the game as the pillar of the “see, the game couldn’t have been rigged” side
Don’t answer that. We haven’t even gotten to the pro-rigged data yet. Let’s start with this:
Of course, one might argue this young Bengals team got nervous and jittery in the final two minutes resulting in mistakes. Maybe the Rams were just more disciplined in crunch time?
Counterpoint:
Get your tin foil hats ready as we circle back to the stat in my above tweet because this next part is what really gets me. Aside from the Bengals in the Super Bowl, there has only been one other game in the last five years in which the losing team was penalized twice in the final two minutes of an otherwise clean game (four or less total penalties by either team up to that point). Green Bay was the other twice-penalized team in the final two minutes of the 2020 NFC Conference Championship vs Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. What do the 2020 Buccaneers and 2021 Rams have in common? Connect the dots here people. As unbiased Kansas City Chief’s legend Larry Johnson suggested last year at the prime contemplation hours of 4:34am, it’s all about the NFL’s dream of having the home team win the Super Bowl:
The fact that the last two times a losing team was penalized twice in the final two minutes of a game that saw four or less total penalties up to that point advantaged the team hosting the Super Bowl that year is quite an inconvenient fact. Especially for a town like LA which we all know isn’t a hard core sports town despite being the second largest populated city in the US. Imagine the increase in revenue though if it were. Give the town a Super Bowl and who knows!
The numbers and the narrative have teeth here but if the NFL fixed a game you better believe Vegas was at the very least in the know. We’re going to need to follow the money and find some corroboration that Vegas was a benefactor in such a scheme before making any outlandish claims:
Corroboration:
Look. Make of this what you will. I’m just laying out the facts for all to see. And I didn’t even mention the fact that it’s kinda weird Pat Mahomes only threw 55 second-half passing yards vs the Bengals in the Conference Championship when his career second-half average is 140. I mean, if we’re being honest, rigging a Rams win vs. Chiefs would have been impossible. And for the record, Mahomes threw just 67 second-half passing yards in the 2021 Super Bowl in and against Tampa Bay.
Buy hey, maybe this was all a coincidence. Maybe this was Harambe getting his revenge on Cincinnati. I don’t know for sure but the forensic analytics warrant an official NFL investigation so that, at the very least, Jon Gruden can be cancelled again. Until then, I think I made a pretty good case here and you can now go back and ask yourself which of the two scenarios was the most likely explanation for Tee Higgins not getting called for a face mask. Who’s the crazy one now? Is it me, or is it you?
Don’t answer that.
