{"id":683631,"date":"2026-01-17T06:39:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T06:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/683631\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T06:39:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T06:39:15","slug":"nfl-live-crew-horrified-to-realize-they-all-picked-texans-to-beat-patriots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/683631\/","title":{"rendered":"‘NFL Live’ crew horrified to realize they all picked Texans to beat Patriots"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Announcer Jinx<\/a> is the most dreaded curse in all of football.<\/p>\n

Second to that is the equally potent but less appreciated Unanimous Game Predictions<\/a> by a pre-game show or studio show.<\/p>\n

We were reminded of just how ominous that situation is when ESPN\u2019s NFL Live crew realized they had all selected the Houston Texans to upset the New England Patriots in their NFL Playoff game on Sunday.<\/p>\n

During Friday\u2019s show, host Hannah Storm was going through the analysts\u2019 predictions for each of the weekend\u2019s NFL Playoff games, revealing which team she, Mina Kimes, Ryan Clark, Dan Orlovsky, and Marcus Spears had picked beforehand. When they got to the Texans-Patriots game, Storm said she was \u201csurprised\u201d to see everyone on the panel picked the upset.<\/p>\n

Wait for the NFL Live crew to realize they all picked Houston \ud83d\ude2d pic.twitter.com\/62sNKE0MVj<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Every panel member reacted in horror in their own way.<\/p>\n

Kimes exclaimed, \u201cNo way!\u201d and disappeared from view, hiding from reality. She later emerged to say, \u201cI thought when Nico Collins was ruled out, everybody would change it but me. I hate this,\u201d before leaving the frame once more.<\/p>\n

Clark made the same exclamation and immediately demanded that they \u201cchange my pick.\u201d He then blamed a production crew member who \u201cgot my paper wrong,\u201d claiming, presumably in jest, that he had actually picked the Patriots.<\/p>\n

Orlovsky covered his face with his hands and silently processed what had happened, eventually saying, \u201cI don\u2019t love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spears also demanded that someone change his pick, repeating \u201cThis is bad\u201d several times.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo Houston team has been to a conference championship game since the Oilers in 1979,\u201d shared Storm, in a bit of pretzel logic (the Texans are the only post-Houston team to exist), to drive home how out of the norm the pick was.<\/p>\n

Adding insult to injury for any Texans fans watching at home, the crew had a very different reaction when they realized they\u2019d all picked the Seattle Seahawks to beat the San Francisco 49ers<\/a>. Their bafflement was exclusive to Houston and their chances against the 14-3 AFC East champions.<\/p>\n

Congratulations to the New England Patriots on advancing to the AFC Championship<\/p>\n

[image or embed]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Mina Kimes (@minakimes.bsky.social<\/a>) January 16, 2026 at 6:57 PM<\/a><\/p>\n

The Patriots are a field-goal favorite heading into the AFC Divisional Round showdown, but if the Texans can pull off the upset, those horrified reactions will turn around pretty quickly come Monday.<\/p>\n

\t