Well, that’s if you go along with the ‘Redskin Rule’, a bizarre correlation that has predicted the US presidential election for the last 72 years – except one but we’ll get to that*. It’s pretty simple: If the Washington Redskins win their last home game before election day the incumbent party wins; if the redskins lose, the opposition takes the election.

The Redskins lost to the Panthers this weekend 21-13. So, if the last 72 years are anything to go by, get ready for President Romney. OK, it is ridiculous, but the record is interesting if nothing else.

Look, if this had worked for a couple elections you could write it off as blind chance, but it has held true for every single US election since 1940. Except one. Let’s have Cracked.com explain:

[I]t was in 2004, when the Green Bay Packers beat the Redskins but George W. Bush held on to the presidency. The fact that this was the one exception actually makes it weirder, because as some of you vividly remember, Bush was president but had actually lost the popular vote in 2000 (winning only due to the Supreme Court craziness over Florida’s recount). As the guy credited with discovering the theory, Steve Hirdt, points out, if you make the rule refer not to the party in power, but to the party that won the popular vote in the previous election, it suddenly has a perfect 18-for-18 record predating World War II.

What the what! It’s not even based on how good or bad the team is. In 1976, the Redskins only lost two games at home all year, but one of those two losses was right before election day, and therefore the Republican incumbent lost and Democrats took back the presidency. What devilry is this?

* Yes, we do know that correlation does not equal causation, but it does make for snappier headlines.

[Sources: Cracked.com, BuzzFeed]