NBC Sports analyst Mike Florio apologizes to Lamar Jackson after ‘disrespectful’ 49ers prediction

NFL analyst Mike Florio has been forced to backtrack on his controversial Ravens-49ers prediction after being publicly called out by Lamar Jackson.

The Pro Football Talk founder and NBC Sports presenter had predicted that the San Francisco 49ers would “kick the s*** out of the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas Day.

Jackson and the Ravens took that personally and used it as motivation in their highly anticipated matchup with NFC’s No.1 seeds.

The prediction proved well wide of the mark as Baltimore laid down a Super Bowl marker in an emphatic 33-19 win in Santa Clara.

Jackson also comprehensively outplayed 49ers QB Brock Purdy in a matchup of the quarterbacks considered by many to be the top candidates for this year’s MVP award.

Jackson ended the game with 252 passing yards and two touchdown passes.

The Ravens QB was filmed calling out Florio in the tunnel as he walked to the locker room and was asked about his comments in the press conference.

“We’re in the NFL. We play ball. Not to take away from that team, but you can’t just discredit us. We’re grown men. We have to feed our families,” Jackson said.

He added: “[Florio] can have his opinion, but don’t just talk like that. That’s disrespectful. That’s very disrespectful. Not to take away from the 49ers at all, because they’re great all across the board, but we’re going to come to play as well.

“Our record [isn’t a] fluke. We play ball, and we showed that. He just needs to keep doing his job, but just don’t come off like that towards us. That’s disrespectful, like I said, because he isn’t putting the pads on. 

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“If he was putting the pads on, I feel like it would’ve been different for him. He wouldn’t say that. He’d be respectful.

“Our opponents are respectful to us, but a guy who’s not even playing against us (and) just coming out and being disrespectful, I guess he wanted more views on his little channel.”

On Tuesday, Florio took to X to apologise for his remarks. He wrote: “Lamar is right. I apologize for how I phrased my opinion. I believed the 49ers were dramatically better than every other team in the NFL: Cowboys, Eagles, Chiefs, Dolphins, everyone.

“The Ravens proved otherwise. They deserve complete and total respect for what they accomplished.”