CNN gaffe shows Chargers-Lions playoff game

Published Jan. 16, 2012 8:19 p.m. ET

foxsports

By REED NELSON

FOXSportsDetroit.com

CNN knows news. And they should, given that they are the oldest name in
24-hour news coverage. In fact, since 1980, CNN has made a name for
itself, presumably, by being right a good chunk of the time. In this day
and age that makes you a world-class news service.

On Saturday, however, CNN proved two things with one wrong graphic — that even one of the best can make mistakes, and that whoever was producing their morning show is not a
sports fan.

Mistakenly displayed on their high-tech forecasting screen was a chilly forecast
for a Lions divisional playoff game, one being played against the San
Diego Chargers. (Check out the video provided by Deadspin.com here.)

We are all entitled to make mistakes, but this doozie could
use some dissection. The Lions were eliminated from the
playoffs, in New Orleans, exactly a week prior to the on-air graphic. Also, the forecast where the non-existing game would be played at, Ford Field, would be irrelevant, as the Lions' comfortable indoor
confines are equipped with a wonderful climate control system.

The
Chargers (8-8) missed the playoffs, their statistical execution
coming in Detroit on Christmas Eve. And finally, San Diego plays in the
AFC, which means that those two foes
could not square off in the playoffs unless it was in the Super Bowl.

While the forecast was similar to the one that could have been displayed
for the Lions-Chargers Week 16 matchup — 34 degrees, 10-15 mph winds
vs. 36 degrees and 5-10 mph winds — it is still unknown how the graphic
came to be.