ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The NFL playoffs are down to four teams, who will meet in conference championship games on Sunday.
For many fans, there's a lot of drama to unpack as two teams punch their tickets to the Super Bowl. And yet, there are others who believe the Super Bowl participants are predetermined, based on the game's annual logo.
The gist of the theory is this: the colors used in the logo offer clues to which teams will be in the game. Multiple reports cite a post from an account called NFL Memes on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, as the start of the conspiracy theory a couple months ago.
For a long time, the NFL used a classic silver logo showcasing the Lombardi Trophy.
But a couple years ago, a more colorful logo was used, featuring red, orange, and yellow to signify the game being played in the Los Angeles area. The L.A. Rams (yellow) beat the Cincinnati Bengals (orange) in that Super Bowl.
Last year, the red-and-green logo went with desert tones for a game played in the Phoenix area. The Kansas City Chiefs (red) beat the Philadelphia Eagles (green) to win that Super Bowl.
And now comes a Super Bowl logo for Las Vegas that primarily uses red and purple, in a year where the San Francisco 49ers (red) and the Baltimore Ravens (purple) have been considered the league's best teams for much of the season. They both secured home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and will host conference championship games on Sunday.
Of course, fans of the Arizona Cardinals (red) and Minnesota Vikings (purple) might not necessarily buy into this theory.
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