{"id":707803,"date":"2026-01-27T02:05:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T02:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/707803\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T02:05:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T02:05:31","slug":"nfl-fans-force-espn-analyst-to-confront-her-humiliating-pre-season-prediction-about-the-seattle-seahawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/707803\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL fans force ESPN analyst to confront her humiliating pre-season prediction about the Seattle Seahawks"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JAMES COHEN, SPORTS REPORTER<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 19:52 EST, 26 January 2026 | Updated: 19:53 EST, 26 January 2026 <\/p>\n

ESPN analyst Mina Kimes has been forced to eat humble pie after being confronted with a ‘botched’ pre-season prediction after the Seahawks’ Super Bowl<\/a> qualification.<\/p>\n

The Seattle fan was celebrating the team’s 31-27 victory over the Rams in the NFC Championship on Sunday when critics dug up the receipts of her past comments.<\/p>\n

One X user reposted a scathing assessment Kimes made in March 2025, where she slammed the team’s decision to trade away quarterback Geno Smith for Sam Darnold.<\/p>\n

At the time, she branded the move ‘terrible’ and claimed the ‘chances of upgrading are extremely low,’ a take that has aged poorly given Darnold’s success in leading the franchise to Super Bowl LX.<\/p>\n

‘Your empty words fall on deaf ears. You thought it was a mistake to lose Geno. Must be nice to just be wrong and pretend you said nothing,’ one user fired at her.<\/p>\n

Kimes, however, wasn’t afraid to own the blunder, hitting back at the critic immediately.<\/p>\n

\"ESPN <\/p>\n

ESPN analyst Mina Kimes has been forced to confront a ‘botched’ pre-season prediction\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Kimes <\/p>\n

Kimes slammed the team’s decision to trade away quarterback Geno Smith for Sam Darnold<\/p>\n

‘I did, and have said I was wrong a bunch! (You can search for it on here),’ she replied.\u00a0‘Also discussed on my pod a lot. Part of the job is trying to understand why you\u2019re wrong so you can get better, imo.’<\/p>\n

The receipt in question dates back to March 7, 2025 – just three days before Seattle inked Darnold to a massive three-year, $100.5 million contract.<\/p>\n

While Darnold led the Seahawks to a dominant 14-3 record and the top seed in the NFC, Geno Smith endured a nightmare season in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

After signing a $75 million extension with the Raiders to reunite with head coach Pete Carroll, Smith slumped to a 3-14 finish.<\/p>\n

The disastrous campaign saw Smith throw 17 interceptions and led to Carroll being fired, leaving the Raiders with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 draft.<\/p>\n

The franchise is now expected to draft Indiana national champion Fernando Mendoza to replace Smith, marking a bitter end to the veteran’s time as a starter.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Darnold has completed a stunning career revival after being written off as a bust by the Jets in 2018.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old dazzled in Sunday’s title game, tossing three touchdowns and zero interceptions against a formidable Rams defense.<\/p>\n

His connection with star receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba – who shattered franchise records this season with 1,793 receiving yards – was unstoppable on the night.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Head coach Mike Macdonald couldn’t hide his pride after the game: ‘You can\u2019t talk about the game without talking about our quarterback. I mean he just shut a lot of people up tonight, so I\u2019m really happy for him.’<\/p>\n

Even Kimes couldn’t hide her delight at being proven wrong, posting on X: ‘Man\u2026I\u2019m just really freakin happy for Sam Darnold.’<\/p>\n

‘We were in Arizona for his loss to the Rams last year – to go from that to this, and from castoff to the Super Bowl. What an incredible journey.’<\/p>\n

Darnold will now face the New England Patriots in Santa Clara on Feb. 8 for Super Bowl LX.<\/p>\n

Share or comment on this article:
\n NFL fans force ESPN analyst to confront her humiliating pre-season prediction about the Seattle Seahawks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By JAMES COHEN, SPORTS REPORTER Published: 19:52 EST, 26 January 2026 | Updated: 19:53 EST, 26 January 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":707804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3225,7,6,817],"class_list":{"0":"post-707803","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sport"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115964617835016987","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=707803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/707804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}