In the unpredictability that is the SEC, one team reigns supreme above all.

It was ugly and brutal, but in the battle of heavyweights, Auburn got past Tennessee 53-51 in one of the most-anticipated games of the college basketball season. And it lived up to the billing.

Those that love offense probably had a hard time watching what transpired inside Neville Arena, where every single point was earned in a physical 40 minutes; both teams each shot 31% from the field and less than 20% from the 3-point line. While far from pretty − including some questionable decisions from the referees − it truly was two of the best teams in the country showing what makes them such stalwarts.

Does Saturday’s game determine who will win the SEC or become national champion? No, but what the contest did prove is Auburn is indeed the best team in the country. It’s been three weeks into the conference slate, and every team tasted defeat in the talent-heavy league − except Auburn. A perfect 6-0 start in the SEC likely couldn’t be done by any other team in the country, nor could a 11-1 record in Quad 1 games.

If this was the first time the majority of the country saw the Tigers for the first time now that college football is over, it was a solid introduction for player of the year candidate Johni Broome. Questionable to play after suffering a left ankle injury two week injury, the center didn’t looked hobbled against Tennessee with a 16-point, 13-rebound performance for his 11th double-double of the season.

Now through the first major test since the start of 2025, the Tigers will be tested again with Mississippi and Florida in the next two weeks before another possible game of the season against rival Alabama on Feb. 15.

Will Auburn lose another game? Probably. But make no mistake: Auburn has a firm grasp on top of the sport as we close in February, and the Tigers lead the top storylines from the past weekend of hoops.

Houston wins thriller to affirm control of Big 12

Remember when Houston started the season 4-3 and there was doubt if the Cougars could continue their dominance? Well less than two months later and 12 consecutive wins, Houston remains on top of the Big 12 after a wild comeback victory at Kansas.

Playing in hostile territory, Houston had a 17-2 second half start to take a lead against the Jayhawks, but Kansas stormed back and looked to be headed toward handing the Cougars the first Big 12 loss of the season. Houston was down six points in the final 90 seconds, and managed to force overtime.

That wasn’t all. In the extra period, Kansas again looked to have a win sealed with a six-point lead with 18 seconds. Then, an incredible sequence of a 3-pointer, steal and another three suddenly tied the game up to force another extra period. The second overtime didn’t really need to be played; the crowd in Allen Fieldhouse was stunned, Kansas had no juice left and and Houston left Lawrence with a statement victory.

The expanded Big 12 remains a beautiful mess, yet Houston still controls the conference in just its second-year there. In two seasons, the Cougars are 23-3 in the conference and look like the leading contender to win the regular-season title again. Time to put some respect on Houston again.

Wake Forest falters in much-needed win

The past two seasons, Wake Forest has lived on the bubble, hoping the NCAA men’s tournament selection committee would slot them into the field of 68, only to end Selection Sunday in disappointment. It’s shaping up to be another season like that for Steve Forbes after it couldn’t get a signature win against Duke.

It was a first half to forget for the Demon Deacons, but they came out blazing in the second half with a 17-1 run that gave them the lead and had Veterans Memorial Coliseum ready to storm the court. However, Cooper Flagg and company weren’t just going to bow down. The freshman star led kept the Blue Devils composed with a 14-2 to retake a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Meanwhile, Wake Forest ended the game cold, going more than six minutes without a made field goal before it was too late.

Wake Forest entered the weekend one of the first four teams out of the first USA TODAY Sports Bracketology of the season, and Saturday was the perfect opportunity to boost its stock. In each of the past two seasons, it had a home win over Duke that really gave the Demon Deacons a case to make the tournament. This time around it doesn’t have it, and are now 1-5 in Quad 1 games. It will now take even more work to return to the big dance for the first time since 2017.

Texas boosts tournament resume thanks to last-second shot

One of the projected last teams in the field in last week’s Bracketology, Texas has one of the best opportunities to get out of playing in Dayton with so many resume building games left on the schedule. Quickly, the Longhorns are capitalizing.

Texas looked like it was going to suffer an embarrassing home loss to rival Texas A&M when it trailed by 22 points early in the second half. Instead, the Longhorns stormed back to finish the game on a 41-18 run that was capped with Tramon Mark hitting a game-winning shot against the Aggies.

The win capped off a successful week for Texas after it took down a hot Missouri team on Tuesday. Now after an 0-3 start in the SEC, Texas is 3-1 since, with each victory being a Quad 1 win. Are the Longhorns still looking at a double-digit seed? Yes, but getting into the first round is something Rodney Terry will take.

Connecticut, Oregon and West Virginia suffer bad road losses

Even the ranked teams in the country can get in slumps, but it’s different when losing to struggling teams like Connecticut, Oregon and West Virginia did.

The defending back-to-back champions have now lost three of its last five games after the Huskies lost to Xavier. Oregon never looked complete against Minnesota, and West Virginia was completely dominated by Kansas State for its third loss in four games. Whether it’s because of injuries or just the fatigue of the season setting in, all three squads are in pretty bad funks after looking strong earlier in the season.

There’s not much time to figure things out either. West Virginia has Houston next, Oregon has trips to UCLA and the Michigan schools and UConn has Marquette and St. John’s approaching on the schedule. True make it or break it moments coming up.

SEC woes continue in South Carolina

For as much as SEC fans love playing the hypotheticals, South Carolina really does have argument it would be a solid team in any other conference.

The Gamecocks remain the only winless team in conference play, a poor 0-7 against the SEC and the only one in the league not above .500. It’s become a rough time for a team that started 10-3 and hasn’t won since the calendar flipped to 2025, but the winless start in the SEC doesn’t mean South Carolina is awful. In fact, it’s put up close performances, it just can’t capitalize in clutch situations.

It took Auburn to the wire in a 66-63 loss, lost by the same margin to Vanderbilt thanks to a last-second shot, had a 14-point second half lead against Florida get turned into a one-point defeat and on Saturday, took Mississippi State to overtime before falling apart to the Bulldogs. Lamont Paris has a good team, the unfortunately reality is he is constantly facing better teams, and why the Gamecocks are being kept at the bottom of a deep league.

Join the 21st Century, NFL.

The NFL has desperately needed electronic spotting for years now. Now, after the AFC Championship turned on an egregious spot, the NFL has to make implementing it the top priority this off-season. Don’t send it to some committee where it’ll get buried or slow-walked. Don’t say you’ll “try it out.”

Get. It. Done.

Unless, of course, the NFL is cool with fans believing the league and the refs are putting their thumbs on the scale for Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs and increasingly questioning whether this $20-billion industry is any more genuine than WWE. Unless it wants to keep living in the dark ages, doing things the way they were done in the days of leather helmets.

Clinging to a one-point lead early in the fourth quarter, the Buffalo Bills went for it on fourth-and-1 with a Josh Allen sneak. It looked as if Allen got the first down ‒ by several inches, no less ‒ before being shoved backward.

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One of the line judges appeared to concur, trotting onto the field just above the first-down line. But another didn’t, coming onto the field below it, and the initial call was that Allen hadn’t gotten the first down. Which, OK, fine. It’s not always easy to tell at the moment when there’s that big pile of bodies.

But then the call was upheld on review, and CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore spoke for everyone who is not a Chiefs fan.

“I felt like he gained it by about a third of the football,” Steratore, who was an NFL official for 15 years, said.

And that’s from a guy who once needed an index card to make a first-down call!

‘I thought he had it,’ Bills head coach Sean McDermott said after the game. ‘Just short of the line was actually the first down ‒ what it looked like to me ‒ when it was sitting next to me with the marker. Just inside that white stripe was the first down. It looked like he got to it. That’s all I can say.’

Five plays later, Mahomes rushed for a score that gave the Chiefs a 29-22 lead. The Bills would tie the game again, but Kansas City kicked a field goal and Buffalo couldn’t answer. The Chiefs won, 32-29, to reach Super Bowl 59 against Philadelphia.

Now, there’s no telling if the Bills would have won the game if Allen had gotten that first down early in the fourth quarter. There were still almost 13 minutes left in the game, and the Chiefs are near-impossible to beat at home. They’re also near-impossible to beat in big games, reaching the Super Bowl for a third consecutive season.

The Bills also had plenty of mistakes of their own. They failed twice on two-point conversions. Needing a field goal to send the game to overtime, Allen was 1 of 4 on Buffalo’s final possession. But it’s also really hard to see the momentum the Bills had at that moment and not think the refs snatched it from them.

“Of course, it (matters). Darn right, it does,’ McDermott said. ‘That’s a possession. We’re up one point at the time. A chance to go up maybe multiple scores at that point. It’s a big call. It’s absolutely a big call.’

And really, whether that call made the difference in the outcome or not is beside the point.

The NFL is hypersensitive to anything that calls the integrity of the game into question. It’s why multiple players have gotten hefty suspensions for gambling. Yet there are an increasing number of fans who believe that the NFL is partial to Mahomes and the Chiefs and has let the refs know it. The thinking is that because Mahomes is the face of the league and because Travis Kelce’s romance with Taylor Swift has brought a legion of new fans to the NFL, it’s best for everyone that they end up on the winning side.

Every game, there is griping about the gifts the Chiefs get from the refs. Calls made in their favor. Calls made against their opponent. Penalties ignored. Penalties assessed. Even earlier in Sunday’s game, refs ruled Xavier Worthy made a 26-yard catch when replays showed possession was debatable. Two plays later, the Chiefs scored.

Electronic spotting won’t end all the suspicion. But when the NFL’s credibility is being called into question, even a partial solution is better than the status quo. The technology exists. The NFL has the money for it. All it needs is the motive, and this game sure provided it.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.

Nebraska football quarterback Dylan Raiola went viral during the 2024 college football season for his comparisons to Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

It appears the Cornhuskers quarterback has gone viral again.

Shortly after securing their ticket to Super Bowl 59 with a win over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC championship game on Sunday, Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco posted a video on social media with Raiola inside Kansas City’s locker room at Arrowhead Stadium with Raiola and Mahomes sharing laughs.

‘That ain’t Pat,’ Pacheco said in the clip while panning his camera to Raiola.

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Raiola has drawn comparisons to Mahomes, and even got the nickname ‘Baby Mahomes’ by some, for the majority of the last year. The comparisons began when Raiola arrived on campus for Nebraska’s training camp back in July looking like Mahomes: a goatee, wearing similar sunglasses to Mahomes and even having Mahomes’ hairstyle.

The Mahomes lookalike comparisons between the three-time Super Bowl champion and the Cornhuskers quarterback heated up in Week 3 vs. UTEP when Raiola was seen impersonating Mahomes’ pregame warmup routine to the tee.

‘It’s cool, honestly. I was that guy,’ Mahomes said in September when asked about the comparisons. ‘I know Dylan, I train with him in the offseason. He’s a great kid, a great football player. I think he is going to make his own stamp on the game and I think you’ve seen that early in his career.’

Raiola led the Cornhuskers to a 7-6 overall record (3-6 in Big Ten) in his first season, while completing 275 of 410 passes for 2,819 yards with 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. The 6-foot-3 quarterback led Nebraska to its first bowl game victory since 2015 in the Pinstripe Bowl against Boston College at Yankee Stadium on Dec. 28.

The Chiefs will meet up with the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 59 on Sunday, Feb. 9 inside Caesars Superdome in New Orleans in a rematch of Super Bowl 57.

PHILADELPHIA – Years from now, box scores and faded memories might overwhelmingly suggest that the Philadelphia Eagles’ 55-23 victory in the 2024 NFC championship game was a walkover, a speed bump on their way to Super Bowl 59. But make no mistake, the ousted Washington Commanders – as they did throughout this season – fought relentlessly and stayed within striking distance.

Until a pivotal sequence early in the fourth quarter.

The Eagles were leading 34-23 but driving after a fumble by Commanders running back Austin Ekeler and ultimately propelled to the Washington 1-yard line when Saquon Barkley’s 22-yard gallop ended just shy of the goal line. Most of the nearly 70,000 in attendance at Lincoln Financial Field might have assumed a patented Philly ‘tush push’ on the next play would put the game in the bag.

It didn’t quite go down that way. What followed next was what Eagles second-team All-Pro left tackle Jordan Mailata described as ‘mental warfare.’

‘That’s all that was,’ Mailata said. ‘Mental warfare.’

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That’s because the Commanders took a different approach for trying to defend a play the Eagles have made all but unstoppable on short-yardage situations, particularly on fourth downs and/or at the goal line, in recent seasons. Over the next five snaps (almost) – one a carry by Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts for no gain – the ball inched incrementally closer to pay dirt, Washington penalized twice for being offsides and twice for encroachment, defensive tackle Jonathan Allen and linebacker Frankie Luvu flagged twice apiece.

‘It was hilarious,’ Eagles right guard Mekhi Becton said. ‘I’ve never seen anything like that.’

At one point, Becton said, a Commanders defensive lineman was yelling ‘C’mon, run the play, run the play.’ (Becton declined to reveal the Washington player’s identity.) Becton added the physicality of the Eagles’ front can push the opposition to do crazy things.

‘You can always tell when somebody is about to give up,’ Becton said. ‘We know when that time is coming.’

The infractions were clearly intentional attempts to disrupt the Eagles, Hurts contacted once as Luvu leapt over both lines. Luvu said he was shooting his shot and that he’d planned trying to time his hurdle over the crouched linemen in front of him with the snap of the ball.

‘If I make it, I make it. But if not, bounce back,’ Luvu said. ‘But the third time, (the refs) told me I’m going to get a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. I don’t know what that was about, but I guess they wanted them to score. So I just kind of stopped from there, and that’s how it played out.’

Indeed, referee Shawn Hochuli announced to the crowd that the officials would award a touchdown to the Eagles should the Commanders’ antics – or tactics, depending on one’s perspective – continue.

‘I guess I need to refresh myself on the rulebook,’ linebacker Bobby Wagner said. ‘I didn’t know they could just award the touchdown.’

Hochuli explained.

‘Simply put, a team can’t commit multiple fouls in an effort to prevent the score,’ he said in a postgame pool report. ‘So, (Luvu) jumped the ball a couple of times. That was when the warning came in. Again, if it’s meant to prevent a score, we can essentially award the score.’

The play clock prevents the offense from using a ‘hard count’ too many times, Hochuli said.

‘With the defense, since we deem it as an effort to prevent the score – a repeated act – that’s where the potential for awarding the score comes in,’ he said.

Wagner said he tried to explain to the refs that some Eagles were lining up offsides, from his perspective.

‘You gotta take a shot. You gotta do something,’ he said. ‘It’s a great play. It’s a great concept, great play, hard to stop. If I was them, I would run it too. We as a defense know they’re going to run it. We stopped it a couple times. And a couple times we jumped offsides … we just can’t get in that position where they run that play.’

Like Wagner, D-lineman Clelin Ferrell had no idea officials could award points. But the Commanders’ mettle at the goal line highlighted the team’s character, he said.

‘What was that, five plays back-to-back?’ Ferrell said. ‘That’s the character of your team – on the 1-yard line, we’re losing, and guys still fighting. It don’t matter.’

And it might have worked … had the Eagles not maintained their own discipline.

‘A lot of trash talk on their side of the ball,’ said Mailata. ‘Jalen did a tremendous job there to keep us cool, calm, collected – just because of all the extra stuff they were doing, all the extra chatter. But (Hurts) just kept changing up the cadence on them, and we had to stay locked in. Mental side of that, kind of from my perspective, kinda was wearing them down a lot.

‘Craziest phase I’ve ever been a part of.’

Lane Johnson, the Eagles’ perennial Pro Bowl right tackle, basically couldn’t blame the Commanders for trying something different in their desperation.

‘Hey, this is a big game. Can’t holding anything back. They played hard, it’s the reason why they’re in this game,’ said Johnson. ‘They were trying to stop it.’

But ultimately Washington couldn’t. Hurts tunneled in on the sixth ‘play’ – all from the 1-yard line or closer – for his third rushing touchdown of the night, one that boosted the Eagles’ lead to 41-23 and effectively put the game out of reach.

Said Philadelphia Pro Bowl center Cam Jurgens: ‘They had a lot of damn emotion, and they were talking a lot. (But) we executed.’

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***

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Deal with it, America.

The three-peat mission for the Kansas City Chiefs is still alive.

Sorry, Buffalo.

Too bad, Bills Mafia.

And for that growing crowd of detractors across the nation rooting for the Chiefs to lose primarily because, well, they win too much, the latest triumph for Patrick Mahomes and Co. in the AFC championship game was for you, too.

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Chiefs 32, Bills 29.

What about the haters?

Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones flashed a huge grin when the question was posed in the middle of a festive locker room after Kansas City clinched its berth in Super Bowl 59.

Then Jones began rapping, with a song blaring through the speakers as if it was on cue.

It was a Drake tune called, “God’s Plan.”

“Yeah, they wishin; and wishin’ and wishin’ and wishin’, ” the lyrics maintain.    

Maybe that’s the best explanation for a team that again survived a close call at the finish and won its 17th consecutive game by one score or less to set up a rematch of Super Bowl 57 against the Philadelphia Eagles.

As Jones rapped all about love, Patrick Mahomes stood at his locker a few feet away feeling the same vibe as he vigorously bopped his head back and forth on beat.

No, this upcoming trip to New Orleans and the chance for the Chiefs to make history as the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls is hardly about the people wanting to see them fail.

But they get it.

“That comes with being successful,” Jones said. “You get less attractive. The more success you have, the more people want to see you fail. As I had spoken about last week, it’s about getting to that mountaintop. Every year, it’s a climb.”

And for the past three seasons, every year the Chiefs have been standing at the top.

Even so, there is fresh fodder for the detractors – and those on the other side — to wonder whether the Chiefs (17-2) benefitted from some special favor. Or maybe good fortune. Last week, after Kansas City defeated the Houston Texans, controversy brewed over two unnecessary roughness penalties for hits on Mahomes.

On Sunday, questions flowed from a stop of Bills quarterback Josh Allen for no gain on a crucial fourth-and-1 from the Chiefs’ 41-yard line early in the fourth quarter. It wasn’t settled until a replay review upheld the on-field decision by referee Clete Blakeman’s crew.

Given the mass of bodies, was it an accurate spot?

Jones put it to USA TODAY Sports this way: “The replay said they didn’t make it. Don’t argue with your mama.”

Bills coach Sean McDermott had a different perspective. From his vantage point on the sideline, McDermott thought his quarterback had moved the chains.

“I thought he had it,” McDermott said. “Just inside that (40-yard line) stripe was the first down. It looked like he got it.”

After the turnover on downs, the Chiefs marched 59 yards in five plays, with Mahomes capping the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run that, with a two-point conversion, gave Kansas City the lead again with a 29-22 margin.

Just don’t think the Chiefs didn’t make their own breaks – again.

To beat the Bills again in another classic playoff match – Kansas City is 4-0 in postseason against Buffalo, 0-4 during the regular season with Mahomes – the Chiefs needed their star quarterback’s legs as much as they did his arm.

There was a fourth-and-1 run for six yards in the second quarter – reminiscent of a fourth-down gamble in overtime in the Super Bowl 58 victory against the San Francisco 49ers – that kept alive a 70-yard touchdown drive. And Mahomes finished the next drive with a 1-yard TD sprint.

You might expect that Mahomes (18-for-26, 245 yards, 1 TD) would out-pass Allen on any given outing, but with his 43 yards on 11 carries and 2 TDs, he outran him, too.

Near the end, though, Mahomes was like everybody else at Arrowhead Stadium, watching to see whether Allen would rally the Bills to victory with some crunch-time heroics. The Chiefs needed some clutch defense, too. Buffalo set up for its final drive with 3:33 on the clock.

“I’m always nervous when the football is not my hands,” Mahomes said. “But I just have so much trust in that defense. They’ve done it all year.”

Before that final drive, the Bills had converted on four of their five fourth-down gambles in the second half, the only blemish being the close call on Allen’s sneak. Just inside the two-minute warning came the make-or-break fourth-and-five from Buffalo’s 47.

That’s when Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo dialed up a corner blitz for the first time in the game, sending Trent McDuffie off the edge. It threw Allen off rhythm, with George Karlaftis bearing down from the other edge. Allen scrambled and heaved a throw on the run to the middle of the field. Yet usually surehanded tight end Dalton Kincaid muffed the pass. And the Bills were essentially finished. Again.

Jones recalled his thoughts as he watched the potential clutch pass cut through the air.

“I hope he don’t catch the ball,” Jones said. “I’m tired. Get us off the field.”

The Chiefs could really exhale – at least for two more weeks – after they sealed the game when Mahomes found Samaje Perine for a third-down completion that moved the chains.

No, they weren’t lucky. No, the refs didn’t give them any gifts. The Chiefs won again because they are the most poised and resilient team in football, finding one way or another to survive.

For the people who are sick and tired of this storyline, buckle up. The champs can’t be dethroned for at least two more weeks.

And they could care less if much of America is rooting for their demise.

“The only thing that matters to me are the people in this building,” tight end Travis Kelce said. “All that other stuff is just outside noise.”

Noise that will likely become louder on the NFL’s biggest stage.

“If they ain’t hating you, you ain’t the top dog,” McDuffie said. “My brother was a Patriots fan when Tom Brady was there. I used to hate the Patriots. So, being in that position where everybody is hating, oh, it’s a great feeling.”

Especially when it comes with a chance for history.

“Yeah, they wishin; and wishin’ and wishin’ and wishin’. ”

This year’s Super Bowl matchup is set, which means it’s the offseason for the NFL’s other 30 teams.

The NFL draft order is almost fully locked in as well with just one more game to play this season. The first 30 picks have all been decided after the conference championships, but the final two selections will get hashed out with the result of the Super Bowl.

All non-playoff teams made up the first 18 selections, and the other playoff losers filled in picks Nos. 19 through 28 earlier in the postseason. With the Washington Commanders and Buffalo Bills losing in their respective conference title games, they’ll hold the 29th and 30th overall picks, respectively.

Here’s a full look at how things stand after conference championship weekend:

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2025 NFL draft order

Here’s the projected 2025 NFL draft order ahead of the Super Bowl, according to Tankathon.com:

Tennessee Titans: 3-14 record; .522 strength of schedule (SOS)
Cleveland Browns: 3-14; .536 SOS
New York Giants: 3-14; .554 SOS
New England Patriots: 4-13; .471 SOS
Jacksonville Jaguars: 4-13; .478 SOS
Las Vegas Raiders: 4-13; .540 SOS
New York Jets: 5-12; .495 SOS
Carolina Panthers: 5-12; .498 SOS
New Orleans Saints: 5-12; .505 SOS
Chicago Bears: 5-12; .554 SOS
San Francisco 49ers: 6-11; .564 SOS
Dallas Cowboys: 7-10; .522 SOS
Miami Dolphins: 8-9; .419 SOS
Indianapolis Colts: 8-9; .457 SOS
Atlanta Falcons: 8-9; .519 SOS
Arizona Cardinals: 8-9; .536 SOS
Cincinnati Bengals: 9-8; .478 SOS
Seattle Seahawks: 10-7; .498 SOS
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 10-7; .502 SOS
Denver Broncos: 10-7; .502 SOS
Pittsburgh Steelers: 10-7; .502 SOS
Los Angeles Chargers: 11-6; .467 SOS
Green Bay Packers: 11-6; .533 SOS
Minnesota Vikings: 14-3; .474 SOS
Houston Texans: 10-7; .481 SOS
Los Angeles Rams: 10-7; .505 SOS
Baltimore Ravens: 12-5; .529 SOS
Detroit Lions: 15-2; .516 SOS
Washington Commanders: 12-5; .436 SOS
Buffalo Bills: 13-4; .467 SOS
Philadelphia Eagles: 14-3; .453 SOS
Kansas City Chiefs: 15-2; .488 SOS

The Eagles and Chiefs can pick no higher than the 31st and 32nd overall picks with their respective Super Bowl berths. Every other team is locked into their current draft pick for now, though trades could mix up the draft order ahead of or on draft night.

What’s that you say? The NFL knew all along who would be playing in Super Bowl 59?

After a one-year blip, the Super Bowl logo controversy has raised its head once again with the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles heading to this year’s game in New Orleans on Feb. 9.

Some conspiracy theorists have suggested the NFL plans out in advance who it wants to play on Super Sunday in order to maximize revenue or – in the case of last year’s Super Bowl – promote a certain political point of view.

For proof, look no further than the colors it chooses for the Super Bowl logo.

What is the Super Bowl logo conspiracy theory?

The premise of the alleged conspiracy is that the colors in the NFL’s official Super Bowl logo correspond to the teams the league has chosen to play in that season’s championship game.

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Sure enough, the Super Bowl 59 logo – which was revealed during the runup to last year’s Super Bowl in Las Vegas – just happens to be red (the Chiefs’ primary color) and green (for the Eagles).

Coincidence? We think not!

How did the Super Bowl logo conspiracy start?

It’s hard to determine but the X account @NFL_Memes shared a graphic just before last year’s AFC and NFC championship games showing the connection between Super Bowl logos and the teams involved.

Of course, the meme lost steam last year when the Chiefs upended the Ravens in the AFC championship game and went on to defeat the San Francisco 49ers for their second consecutive title.

But, as conspiracists will tell you, that was before the NFL knew pop superstar Taylor Swift would be dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. And that the power couple’s impact would force the NFL to alter its plans.

NFL Super Bowl logo history

The first Super Bowl didn’t have a logo but each championship game since then has.

Super Bowl 2 in 1968 through Super Bowl 44 in 2010 had a logo that often included a nod to the host city. Examples include Super Bowl 31 in New Orleans, which had mardi gras-themes in its logo, and Super Bowl 38 in Houston, which included references to the city’s history with NASA.
Super Bowl 45 through 49 used silver logos with Roman numerals and the outlines of the host stadium.
Super Bowl 50 had a special golden logo to commemorate 50 years of the title game.
Super Bowl 51 through 55 went solely with Roman numerals and a Lombardi Trophy.

The newest logos since 56 return to giving nods to the host city: palm trees for Super Bowl 56, desert rock formations for Super Bowl 57, the Las Vegas strip for Super Bowl 58 and the fleur de lis pattern for this season’s return to New Orleans.