Stand up for the facts!

Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.

More Info

I would like to contribute

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, right, and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts speak to the media Feb. 6, 2023, in Phoenix, a week before the Super Bowl. (AP Photo/David J. Philip) Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, right, and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts speak to the media Feb. 6, 2023, in Phoenix, a week before the Super Bowl. (AP Photo/David J. Philip)

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, right, and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts speak to the media Feb. 6, 2023, in Phoenix, a week before the Super Bowl. (AP Photo/David J. Philip)

Jeff Cercone
By Jeff Cercone February 7, 2023

A ‘leaked’ Super Bowl script? We throw a flag on this fake box score

If Your Time is short

  • The notion that the National Football League is scripted has trended on social media after former player Arian Foster joked about it on a recent "Macrodosing" podcast.

  • A box score purported to show the result of the Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl before the game appears to be a re-creation of a box score of a different game from the Pro Football Reference website.

  • PolitiFact was able to recreate the fake box score using code from that site and the online tool WebMaker.

It’s pretty common for National Football League fans to wonder whether the fix is in against their favorite team, especially when a questionable penalty call factors into a close game’s outcome.

Ahead of the Super Bowl LVII Feb. 12 matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles in Glendale, Arizona, some social media users shared a fake box score they described as a leaked "script" that showed the Eagles winning 37-34.

"The Super Bowl script was leaked," read one tweet shared on Feb. 5, sharing a screenshot of the boxscore.

Other users shared similar tweets with the same image.

It’s unclear where the image originated and who shared it on Twitter first, but, as Snopes fact-checkers first reported, the box score looks similar to one on the website Pro Football Reference, with the San Francisco 49ers beating the Las Vegas Raiders by that same score last month. 

Sign up for PolitiFact texts

We were able to take code from that page and swap in details to create a fake box score using the online tool WebMaker.

PolitiFact was able to recreate the fake box score shared on Twitter by taking code from another boxscore from the Pro Football Reference website and tweaking details, using the online tool WebMaker.

It’s possible the inspiration for the tweets came from a recent podcast, where a former NFL player jokingly said the NFL is rigged.

On the Jan. 30 episode of the Barstool Sports podcast "Macrodosing," co-host Arian Foster, a former running back with the NFL’s  Houston Texans, played along with colleague PFT Commenter, who said before the taping that Foster had told him "how the NFL is rigged." Every year, PFT Commenter said, players would get a script for how the season would play out.

Foster then compared the NFL to professional wrestling and said, "We know what’s going to happen, but you still got to put on a show."

The podcast, according to a listing on Spotify, describes the show as "Arian Foster and PFT Commenter explore conspiracies, conundrums, and the dark corners of the deep web." 

Featured Fact-check

Reaction and comedy were quick to follow on social media. Foster and his co-host seemed to have fun with the attention his comments were getting. Foster even hawked a T-shirt on the Barstool Sports site with the words, "Just following my script."

NFL players and fans were in on the joke on Twitter, at the Pro Bowl in Las Vegas, and in Arizona ahead of the big game.

Eagles center Jason Kelce was asked about it this week and said it "was a great interview."

"Tearing my ACL in 2012 was probably the worst thing that Roger ever scripted," he said with a straight face, referring to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Although NFL officiating has often come under heavy criticism in recent years — most recently in the Chiefs’ 23-20 AFC championship game win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Kansas City on Jan. 29 — Chiefs fans can rest easy.

There’s no evidence the outcome of the Super Bowl has been scripted by the league. We rate the claim Pants on Fire!

Our Sources

Twitter post, Feb. 5, 2023

Twitter post, Feb. 7, 2023

Snopes, "Was a Super Bowl LVII 'Script' Leaked Online?," Feb. 6, 2023

Pro Football Reference, "San Francisco 49ers at Las Vegas Raiders," Jan. 1, 2023

WebMaker app, used to recreate fake box score, Feb. 7, 2023

Sports Illustrated, "NFL players react to conspiracy theory of a scripted league," Feb. 1, 2023

Barstool Sports, tweet, Feb. 6, 2023

Fox Sports, "NFL players lean into 'script' jokes at Pro Bowl Games: 'I was a little shook'," Feb. 7, 2023

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by Jeff Cercone

slide 4 to 6 of 15

A ‘leaked’ Super Bowl script? We throw a flag on this fake box score

Support independent fact-checking.
Become a member!

In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts.

Sign me up