This is dangerously close to looking a gift horse in the mouth, and I so desperately don't want to do that. But what is the success rate of Jimmy Fallon's Super Bowl puppy predictor? When it comes to the adorable fluff balls that are Golden Retriever puppies, I should be content to just watch them run about the stage and do literally whatever they want. But I am who I am and I need these stats. You knew who I was when you married me.
Fallon has been using this ultra-scientific method to predict the winner of the biggest game in football for five years now. It goes back to 2013, when he first unleashed a roving herd of cuteness on his audiences in the name of statistical analysis. Every year, Fallon sets up two bowls of puppy chow, identical except for the pasted-on names of the two teams facing off, and then releases a group of impossibly cute Golden Retriever puppies down an Astroturf ramp. Whichever bowl the majority of them force their slobbery little snouts into is the team Fallon predicts as the winner.
Although when you really thing about it, anyone who watches these videos is a winner, because the puppies are that cute. But how accurate are they? Obviously, we don't have stats back on the 2017 puppy prediction yet, as that game will be played on Sunday. But, in their four previous years of predictions, the puppies have been correct two out of four times for a success rate of just 50 percent.
2013 — Super Bowl XLVII
The pups came out of the gate hot in 2013, correctly predicting that the Baltimore Ravens would defeat the San Francisco 49ers — which they did, 34-31.
2014 — Super Bowl XLVIII
Sadly, the next year represented an embarrassment for our furry friends, as they confidently selected the Denver Broncos as the winner, only to watch them get stomped by the Seattle Seahawks 43-8.
2015 — Super Bowl XLIX
But not to be deterred, the pups were back at it in 2015 with a tight match, their prediction ultimately going to the Seattle Seahawks. Should've been a strong guess, given that team's showing the year before. But the puppies got it wrong for the second year in a row; Seattle was narrowly defeated by the New England Patriots 28-24.
2016 — Super Bowl 50
You know I love you, puppies, but you've got some making up to do if you want to convince me this is real science and not just blind hunger driving this. But they got it back. In a landslide puppy vote, the wee ones predicted that the Denver Broncos would defeat the Carolina Panthers, which they did in a decisive 24-10 victory.
2017 — Super Bowl LI
So 2017 is year that will make or break our furry friends; if they're correct, and the Atlanta Falcons pull out a victory over the New England Patriots, then they'll have a winning record. If not, a losing one.
So cross your fingers for these sweet pooches this year, because it's a big one for them.
