Step aside script writers. It’s time for the mentalists to tell us the future.
The conspiracy theorists have been running wild this NFL season. From the Super Bowl logo hypothesis to claims the NFL is “rigged” in favor of Taylor Swift and the Chiefs, fans have been bending over backward to prove their outlandish assertions.
The result has felt like a perpetual recreation of the frequently memed Charlie Kelly mailroom scene from “It’s Alway Sunny in Philadelphia” — but I digress.
With the Super Bowl 58 matchup set between the Chiefs and the 49ers, another fun but mind-boggling theory is making its way around the football world thanks to a preseason “Hard Knocks” clip featuring Mecole Hardman and Oz the Mentalist.
Thanks to the clip, bettors believe they have found a way to get the upper hand on sportsbooks for the big game. Here is more on the Super Bowl final score prediction from Hardman and Oz the Mentalist.
MORE: Chiefs Super Bowl odds, props | 49ers Super Bowl odds, props | Super Bowl 58 MVP odds
What was Mecole Hardman’s Super Bowl prediction?
During the 2023 version of HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” Oz Pearlman, better known as Oz the Mentalist, stopped by the Jets’ facility to work some of his mind-reading magic.
Pearlman asked Hardman, who played for New York at the time, to give his prediction for this year’s Super Bowl, including the participants and the final score. The wide receiver, unsurprisingly, picked his own team as the AFC representative and the 49ers as the NFC opponent, with San Francisco losing 31-21.
Of course, Pearlman already had gone into Hardman’s brain and knew exactly what his matchup and tally would be, pulling out a large poster board that echoed the wide receiver’s prediction of 31-21 over the 49ers.
Mecole Hardman might have just predicted his own future!! @AdamSchefter pic.twitter.com/kq8Vnexyw3
— Oz Pearlman (@OzTheMentalist) January 29, 2024
We would be remiss not to point out a major caveat in Hardman’s preseason prediction: The wide receiver was guessing that the score would be 31-21 in favor of the Jets.
Hardman began the season in New York as a part of the Jets’ revamped wide receiver room. With Aaron Rodgers coming to the Big Apple, the team wanted to give the four-time MVP plenty of weapons through the air.
Jets fans know how that went. Rodgers tore his Achilles four plays into the season and did not return for the rest of the campaign. In late October, Hardman was traded back to the Chiefs, re-joining the team with which he spent his first four NFL seasons.
With that being said, Hardman’s prediction was pretty spot on, all things considered. Not only did his team beat the 49ers in the Super Bowl, but he caught the game-winning touchdown from Patrick Mahomes. The score wasn’t 31-21, and no, the Jets weren’t in it — but Hardman was. He will gladly take that as a win to go along with his three Super Bowl rings.
