Defiant Skip Bayless Picks Vikings To Win Super Bowl

NEW YORK--Despite the fact that the Minnesota Vikings didn’t even make the playoffs, a defiant and cocky Skip Bayless predicted they would win the Super Bowl this Sunday in Detroit. Bayless, whose columns appear weekly on ESPN.com, is known for his provocative and controversial viewpoints.

“The following prediction may get me in trouble,” Bayless’ column began. “The people of Seattle may try to impale me on the Space Needle. The people of Pittsburgh may try to suffocate me with chloroform-soaked terrible towels. But still, I can't lie: The Minnesota Vikings will win this year’s Super Bowl.”

The Vikings were eliminated from postseason contention after a Week 16 loss to the Ravens, making them a longshot to win the Super Bowl. That fact did not deter Bayless, however, who continued to defiantly defend his pick.

“Don’t believe me? Consider this: The Vikings have Brad Johnson, a quarterback who won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With all due respect to Ben Roethlisberger and his affable counterpart, Matt Hasselbeck, neither have won a damn thing. Zilch. In fact, Useless-berger and Hassel-fraud could be two of the least qualified quarterbacks ever to play in the big game.”

Bayless also called out the two coaches, calling Mike Holmgren an “also-ran,” and Bill Cowher, “all chin and no substance.” He then made a shocking allegation about Coach Holmgren:

“I’ll let you in on a little secret regarding Coach Has-Been: He doesn’t even want to win the Super Bowl. He’d rather lose and stick it to the ownership that stripped him of his GM duties two years ago. You think he doesn’t hold a grudge? You think that doesn’t sting? It does - which is why, if I were Seattle owner Paul Allen, I wouldn’t trust Mike Has-Been with my fantasy team.”

Bayless’ bold prediction ruffled some feathers in the football world, none more than Mike Holmgren, who criticized him for shoddy research and outright lying.

“Yes, I read the column, and yes, it upset me,” Holmgren told reporters on media day. “Of course I want to win the Super Bowl. There’s no acrimony between me and Mr. Allen. We're great friends. I’m starting to think this Bayless guy just writes things to stir up controversy. And I’ll tell you something else: The Minnesota Vikings are not winning this Super Bowl. We’ve worked too hard all year to get beat by a team that didn’t even make the playoffs.”

Later that day, Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher laughed off Bayless’ suggestion that the Vikings could win the Super Bowl. He assured reporters that the winner would be either the Seahawks or the Steelers.

“I guarantee that one of the teams that are in the Super Bowl will win it,” Cowher declared to the throng of reporters. “We’ve all read Skip Bayless’ column before. You have to take it with a grain of salt. Just because he’s a journalist doesn’t mean that he has to be all serious and do all this stupid research and write things that are true. He’s a sportswriter by trade, but first and foremost, he’s an entertainer. Personally I admire his pluck. It takes a lot of courage to write that bullshit every week.”

The next morning Bayless defended his column on the show Cold Pizza.

“I stand by everything I wrote in that column,” he said. “The fact that the Vikings aren’t in the Super Bowl is not lost on me. Duh! I know they’re not in the Super Bowl. Who the hell cares if they’re in the Super Bowl? I’d pick the Buffalo Sabres to win it if I was in the mood. Who in the hell do you think is going to stop me? My editors? Oh, man. That’s funny. The only thing my editors do is correct spelling mistakes and make sure I don’t out anybody in print.”