Is the NFL rigged? Super Bowl conspiracy memes go viral on Twitter

Is the NFL rigged?

The short answer is: No.

The NFL is not rigged. Let's be real, if it was, the Dallas Cowboys would be en route to their 15th Super Bowl appearance this century instead of sitting at home waiting another year for their first NFC Championship berth in nearly 30 years.

But that's not stopping NFL fans from wondering about a grand conspiracy after a couple of viral tweets made the rounds during Divisional Round weekend. Some are convinced the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens have already been written into the Super Bowl script.

Is the NFL rigged? Conspiracies sparked by newscast and Super Bowl logos

Someone noticed that a Vancouver Island news report touted Super Bowl performances from Reba McEntire, Usher and Post Malone during the "San Francisco 49ers & Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl match-up on February 11."

How would the news channel know the matchup when the 49ers and Ravens still have to go through the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs?

But wait, there's more. Someone else noticed something fishy about the most recent Super Bowl logos.

If the logo for Super Bowl LVI got the orange and yellow right for the Bengals and Rams, then Super Bowl LVII was green for the Eagles and red for the Chiefs, then surely, the shades of red and purple on the Super Bowl LVIII logo tell us the 49ers and Ravens are destined to play. Right?

Color theory is fun and all, but coincidences do happen.

Besides, a conspiracy that requires people at the level of graphic designers and chyron copy editors to be in on the scheme doesn't sound like it would be kept under wraps for very long.

So fear not, Lions and Chiefs fans. There's still hope that your team will make the Super Bowl.

And remember, when the inevitable controverisial refing decisions arrive during Conference Championship weekend: Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.