Here’s what the Bears-Colts game means for the 2020 presidential race

Yes, they suck. But we were all Bears fans today.

Since 2004, the winner of the Bears-Colts regular season game successfully predicted whether a Republican or Democrat would win presidential office.

Like every AFC-NFC matchup, the Bears and Colts play every four years. It just so happens that the AFC South faces the NFC North in election years.

The Bears’ wins in 2008 and 2012 coincided with an Obama win and reelection. And when the Colts beat Chicago in 2004 and 2016, Republicans George W. Bush and Donald Trump, respectively, clinched the presidential nomination.

If today’s sports stat is any indication, we’ll be inaugurating Trump again in 2021.

Knowing that this stat was cherry-picked by someone with maybe a little too much time on their hands, I tried to see what other AFC-NFC matchups could help us predict the results this November. I’ve got some time to kill too.

Since 2004, the winner of the Bengals-Cowboys game has forecasted the winner of the popular vote. A rare Cincinnati win coincided with Republicans winning the popular vote, and when Dallas won, Democrats did too.

The last time the Bengals beat Dallas was in 2004. That year, George W. Bush became the only Republican presidential nominee to win a popular vote in the 21st century.

The Cowboys beat the Bengals in 2008, 2012, and in 2016. Democratic nominees for President won the popular vote in every one of those years.

These sports statistics are meaningless in the political arena, obviously. But coming into the day, I didn’t like the idea of the Bears and Cowboys having anything to do with preserving the fate of democracy. Despite the polls, the irrational sports fan in me does not like these trends heading into November.