What’s More Likely: Rich Talks Chiefs, 49ers, Seahawks, Rams, Cowboys, LeBron, World Cup, More

Rich opened this round of What's More Likely with a scoop he clearly enjoyed not fully explaining.

Chris led with two friends of the show coming back from injury, asking which future Hall of Famer was more likely to play week one, George Kittle or Patrick Mahomes. Rich did not pick one. He said he had recently seen both of them on a dance floor in New York City, declined to say where, and left it there.

"Both are playing week one," he said.

Pressed on whether a dance floor is a meaningful sample size for NFL availability, Rich allowed that the two activities are different, then pointed out that both involve footwork. He also noted he had seen Kittle at WrestleMania without a limp. For the record, Kittle went through a wardrobe change.

His football reasoning was sturdier than the nightlife scouting. Week one opens with the first international game in Australia, Rams and Niners, and closes with the first Monday night game. Rich's read was that the league does not schedule that way if it expects backups under center.

The Seattle question came from a caller who had phoned in an undefeated Seahawks prediction the day before. Chris asked whether it was more likely that the Seahawks or Rams arrive at their Christmas meeting undefeated, or that one of them misses the playoffs entirely.

Rich took undefeated on Christmas, and he was firm that neither team is missing January. When someone raised the Ravens missing the playoffs last year as a cautionary tale, Rich pushed back that Lamar did not play a lot of games. He acknowledged the usual churn, that roughly half the NFC playoff field turns over annually, then declined to apply it here.

TJ got the next one, built off an impromptu Cowboys win-loss prediction he had delivered two days earlier while riding a wave of internet notoriety and a fresh cut. His number was 14 and 3. Chris asked whether that was more likely than the Sixers winning the East.

TJ recused himself, on the grounds that his roster is not yet full.

That detour produced a full accounting of LeBron's rooting interests, which the room agreed are extensive. Yankees, Cowboys, Browns, Ohio State. TJ's position is that a fan's interest should not live in only one place.

Rich went with the Cowboys at 14 and 3, which drew an immediate accusation of disrespect that he rejected.

The segment then produced its best piece of unrelated intelligence. During a break, someone caught video of Jalen Brunson at Fanatics Fest being asked to sign a Giants helmet and refusing. He offered to write "birds" on it instead, which tracks for a Villanova kid. It was also noted that Brunson's autograph is currently commanding the highest price on the board.

The closing run was all LeBron. Asked whether Messi scoring in the World Cup final was more likely than LeBron mentioning the show again before choosing a team, Rich took Messi, on the theory that the show is currently out of LeBron's mouth and feet.

Then Chris got genuinely inventive. Would LeBron's next team finish more games over .500 than the number of crying emojis he posts about the show in his IG story? That set the bar at 22. Rich went 23 games over, and called the question next level good.

The finale asked whether LeBron's points per game would top the crying emoji count. Rich took the emojis, noting the total sat at 21 last year, and floated a theory that LeBron takes a reduced scoring role until the playoffs and then wins a championship anyway.

Because he is LeBron James.