The fur coat seen 'round the world almost had a very different origin story. Fox Sports reporter Erin Andrews nearly broke the internet with the faux fur coat she wore on the sidelines during the NFL Wild Card playoff game between the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles on January 11. As it turns out, Andrews' good friend and podcast cohost, Charissa Thompson, almost did it first. "You'll love and appreciate this story," Thompson, 43, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting her partnership with Bounty. "I was working a game in Chicago [on January 10]. It was the Packers-Bears game, incredible game. Ended up coming down to the very end. The Bears win. It was going to be freezing in Chicago, and I packed a couple different outfits. One of them was that jacket. I have that exact same jacket that Erin has." Erin Andrews' Fur Coat Sells Out After Viral Reactions to Extravagant Look Thompson continued, "Normally we don't talk about our outfits before. We'll just end up on air and I'm like, 'Oh, I love that,' and she says, 'I love that,' or whatever. I had packed this jacket, which I was so in love with. It was beautiful. But when the day came, I ended up not wearing it. I went with a more monochromatic cream snowsuit." The next day, Thompson was struggling to get Andrews' game to stream on her phone during a ride to the airport - and then the texts started flooding in. "All of a sudden I get these messages on a text chain from my boyfriend to our group chat. 'Erin, your jacket's crazy. So good. Love it.' And I'm like, 'What is this jacket she's wearing?'" Thompson recalled. "She pops up on the screen on YouTube TV while I'm in the car and she's wearing the jacket I was going to wear the day before." At that moment, Thompson knew what needed to be done. Erin Andrews Rocks Another Fur Coat at NFC Championship After Viral Moment "I crawl into the back of the Suburban," Thompson said. "I take it out of my luggage. I put the jacket on. I snap a picture and [Andrews] starts laughing at the end of the game when she gets the text. She's like, 'Only you and I would have the same jacket.'" Thompson added, "I said to her, 'I'm so glad I didn't wear it.' I asked if she had a backup jacket and she goes, 'No!' It was very typical of us. Erin and I also have the same birthday, so maybe there's this telepathic thing that we have." As Thompson gears up for Super Bowl 2026, she's partnered with Bounty's Wingman campaign alongside her Fox Sports colleague, NFL legend Rob Gronkowski. "I am a person who likes to have a lot of fun, but can also be known to make a mess at times," Thompson said. "Gronk and I spend all day on Sundays together watching football, of course. We're there for 12 hours. We're eating and all that kind of stuff. And then obviously we have to go back on national television. We're constantly using Bounty paper towels to clean up, whether it's on our face from the food we're eating, the stuff we spilled on our outfits."