Can dreams materialize by talking about them? Can players for the San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Rams, Kansas City Chiefs or Cincinnati Bengals reach the Super Bowl by avowing to these goals?
In the Bible, Mark 11:24 says, "whatever you have asked for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."
No less a modern philosopher than Jay-Z said in his book Decoded, "I believe you can speak things into existence."
Call it the power of positive actions or just wishful thinking. As the NFL heads into championship weekend, most players in the league have probably longed for a trip to the big game. So, if Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomesforeshadowed his Super Bowl appearances years in advance or Rams linebacker Von Miller made a big proclamation about his new team, tweeting it into existence is the new way of publicly announcing one's dreams or predicting success.
According to past tweets gathered with help from Twitter researchers, each remaining team has at least one player trying to tweet a Super Bowl into existence.
Mahomes signaled his future Super Bowl success in 2013. The tweet came three days after the Baltimore Ravens defeated the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII. In 2013, Mahomes was a high school junior and more than a year from committing to play football at Texas Tech. The tweet came almost seven years to the day prior to his Super Bowl LIV triumph.
Just four months after Mahomes' tweet, his teammate tackle Orlando Brown Jr., put his own hopes out there. Brown, whose father played for the Ravens from 2003 to '05, showed off the Ravens' most recent piece of jewelry.
Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu got half of his prediction correct. The All-Pro safety, who was with the Arizona Cardinalsat the time of his tweet, was recovering from a torn ACL. He signed with the Chiefs in 2019 and has played in the last two Super Bowls. He has yet to win a defensive player of the year award, however.
It's easy to tell that Bengals running back Joe Mixon was watching Super Bowl LIV. He tweeted during the pregame and again after the Chiefs' victory. Now, Mixon can get closer to that ring by knocking off the reigning AFC champions.
Bengals reserve receiver Mike Thomas also tweeted about the Super Bowl. He has not played during the postseason.
On the night Miller won Super Bowl MVP honors in the Denver Broncos' victory over the Carolina Panthers, All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald shouted out the performance, hoping he'd someday have a chance to dominate in the NFL's biggest game.
Less than three years from the tweet, Donald was playing in Super Bowl LIII against the New England Patriots. The Rams lost that one, but he had five tackles in one of the best defensive games in Super Bowl history.
Miller, who dominated in Super Bowl 50, was traded to the Rams in November. With an NFC West division win in hand, Miller tweeted the day after the season ended. The Rams had just blown a 17-point lead to the Niners and lost the last game of the season. Had the Rams won that game, the Niners would have been eliminated from playoff contention.
49ers kicker Robbie Gould is actually pretty good at making his prognostications happen, though he's still looking for a Lombardi. The 39-year-old has been in the league since 2005 and played in two Super Bowls. He lost Super Bowl XLI while playing with the Chicago Bearsand Super Bowl LIV with the Niners.
Gould's first tweet came more than five years after appearing in his first Super Bowl. The second came just a few days after signing with the 49ers in 2012.
Funny enough, both of his Super Bowl losses came in Miami. Now, one win from his third Super Bowl, one played in Los Angeles, maybe a change of coasts will change his fortunes.