The NFL Today pregame crew on CBS offered their predictions for Super Bowl LVIII right before kickoff. Most of the predictions went smoothly, but Phil Simms offered an extremely confusing breakdown of the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers.
Simms was the first to offer his prediction, and he certainly didn’t start things off strong.
“You know, I’m gonna go with the underdog,” said Simms. “Even though they are favored because everybody is picking San Francisco. But I’m going to take Kansas City in a high-scoring game 31-27. I’m sorry, San Francisco 31-27 over Kansas City.”
Here are the CBS ‘NFL Today’ Super Bowl predictions.
Phil Simms was all over the place with his choice. 🏈🎙️📺 #SuperBowlLVIII pic.twitter.com/Gvud1vXJMS
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 11, 2024
There is a lot to break down here from Simms’ prediction. First off, the Chiefs are the underdogs in this matchup, not the 49ers, sitting as a two-point underdog on the vast majority of sportsbooks.
He also said that the majority of people are picking the 49ers to win this matchup. That again is not correct, as 67 percent of spread bets on the matchup and 73 percent of the money line bets are on the Chiefs, at least on BetMGM.
Simms then completely reversed himself, first saying that he was picking the Chiefs and then saying that he was actually picking the 49ers.
What are we to take from Simms’ prediction? Did he mess up or did the graphics department? Whatever happened, viewers certainly took notice.
I still don’t know which team he picked. https://t.co/AGXzZcJGp0
— Ken Fang — Very Asian (@fangsbites) February 11, 2024
I don’t think Phil Simms is coming back next year
He didn’t even know who he was picking to win the game
— JaguarGator9 (@JaguarGator9NFL) February 11, 2024
Phil Simms:
“I’m going to take the underdog, even though they are favored.” pic.twitter.com/XgE87kBIZi
— Brandon DuBreuil (@CoversBDB) February 11, 2024
The graphic under Simms’ prediction was for a 49ers’ 31-27 victory, so it seems like he must have just mistakenly said Chiefs at first (even though he seemed to very obviously want Chiefs at first).
Regardless, it was certainly a weird way to end the pregame coverage of Super Bowl LVIII for those watching at home.