Eagles fly higher than Inky football prognosticators
In only 4 games did the 4 geniuses all agree and get it right.
This isn’t intended to embarrass anyone, and by “anyone” I mean Philadelphia Inquirer sportswriters Marcus Hayes, Jeff McLane, Jeff Neiburg, and Olivia Reiner.
Waaay back at the beginning of the season, each predicted the outcome of every Eagles game this season. They are the “experts.” They had to make 17 predictions.
You would have done better flipping a coin, which would have given you a 50-50 chance of being right.
The best of the best — Hayes and Neiburg — called 7 of the 17 games correctly, for a winning percentage of 41.17.
In only 4 games did the 4 geniuses all agree, and get it right. You would have done better betting against their choices.
Yep, monkeys throwing crap against the wall might do better.
McLane and Reiner finished in second (or last) place with a 6 of 17 score, or 35.29%.
Pathetic, right?
Yep, but . . . .
Predicting 17 games is a fool’s errand.
It is based primarily on last season’s strengths, mixing in players acquired, and lost to trades or free agency. It can’t account for injuries, which the Eagles (and almost every other team) suffered.
They know it is a fool’s errand as well as I do.
So why do they do it?
Because it is tradition.
And some years they might get lucky and get more than half right.
This was not one of them.
Now that we are in the playoffs, the game changes. So do the odds. They must pick only one game, and one team they saw play in recent weeks.
Next Sunday, I pick the better team, the 49ers. Which is not to say I want them to win. I don’t, but it’s what I expect.
Next Sunday we’ll see what the “experts” select.
