ESPN star Scott Van Pelt is well aware of the possible jinx of a pregame show that makes unanimous picks gone wrong. And when he called on the Detroit Lions social media team to make note of the cast of Monday Night Countdown all picking the Baltimore Ravens, it was an invitation to bet the house on the road team.
The Lions emerged victorious over the Ravens in an exciting game in Baltimore, (thanks in part to the “big onions” of their head coach) lifting them to 2-1 on the season while Baltimore fell to 1-2. But in spite of both teams entering with the same record and both teams being seen as contenders in their respective conferences, the entirety of ESPN’s pregame cast were all on the Ravens to get the victory.
And yes, Scott Van Pelt, the receipts did come from the Lions social media team afterwards. They made sure to post the video of Van Pelt making it a united front on the pregame show with everyone making the same pick for the game.
B’More gritty pic.twitter.com/5h2XIoAsOY
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) September 23, 2025
But it wasn’t just the ESPN Monday Night Countdown crew that were unanimous in their picks of the Ravens. In fact, two more of ESPN’s daytime shows had their stars all pick Baltimore for the game, as was pointed out in the replies to the Lions tweet.
The entire cast of Get Up and NFL Live all picked the Ravens. Oops.
some bulletin board material here pic.twitter.com/giOH0EGLpb
— sgniwder (@sgniwder) September 23, 2025
It’s hard to believe that nobody on ESPN had faith in the Lions and Dan Campbell. It’s not like they were the New Orleans Saints or Miami Dolphins coming to town. This is quite literally a team that went 15-2 last year! They put up over 50 points the week before!
Next time, even if it’s just to not become a social media meme, any host needs to just zig when everyone else zags when making pregame picks.
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