Colin Cowherd boldly claims NFC QB Geno Smith can’t win AFC Championship

If you think Colin Cowherd is a talented host, there’s plenty of evidence you can use to back up your claim. But based on several events this summer, it would be tough to argue that he has great sports knowledge.

One of those happened recently when he was breaking down potential NFL contenders.

Cowherd’s conversation shifted to the Seattle Seahawks, specifically quarterback Geno Smith and coach Pete Carroll.

“I don’t think Geno Smith is ever gonna hold the trophy up. But I think Seattle’s got the coach. They’re too young, in my opinion, to win a Super Bowl. But I do think they can win a division and multiple playoff games.”

So far, so good. Maybe you agree, maybe you don’t. But to this point there was nothing wrong with Cowherd’s argument. Then, he continued.

“I don’t see Geno holding up the AFC Championship Trophy over a Mahomes or a Burrow.” To be fair, his argument is sound. It is not only improbable but impossible for Smith to hold up the AFC Championship Trophy — unless, of course he’s traded to an actual AFC team.

Dummy @ColinCowherd doesn't see Geno Smith holding up the AFC championship trophy over Mahomes or Burrow.

(Possibly because he plays for an NFC team) pic.twitter.com/2Hr8nond6d

— Funhouse (@BackAftaThis) August 23, 2023

To be fair to Cowherd, the Seahawks were an AFC team at one point. But when the NFL realigned, they jumped to the NFC. That came in 2002. A baby born on September 8, 2002, when Seattle played its first game as an NFC team, will be able to legally buy a beer on September 8 this year. Additionally, while the Seahawks didn’t reach one Super Bowl in their run as an AFC team, they’ve represented the NFC three times.

Cowherd used being a “baseball casual” as a defense when, after saying that the Los Angeles Angels should demand a load of draft picks in a hypothetical Shohei Ohtani trade, he was informed on-air that draft picks can’t be traded in MLB. Ideally, you’d like the host of a show to do research (and it wouldn’t take much) before going into a segment like that. But, being a casual fan was a defense there.

While tragically accurate, his inclusion of the late Dwayne Haskins on a list of first round quarterbacks from the last 10 years who could not win a Super Bowl was harder to defend.

But this isn’t college football, where the conference affiliations are changing rapidly. Since 2002, when the Seahawks moved to the NFC and the Houston Texans joined the NFL, there has been no NFL realignment. Teams have moved from stadiums, cities and even states, but the divisional and conference alignments have been the same.

This mistake wasn’t as bad as the Haskins one. But it was completely avoidable with either minimal knowledge or research of the topic.

[Funhouse, Photo Credit: FS1]