Through the streets of Tennessee, Green Bay, Tampa Bay but especially Buffalo, there are still people who are picking up the hundreds of pieces of their broken heart. The days after the weekend have been colder than a Siberian winter
I am with them.
Sports history always aligns with victory. The face of defeat is not something aspirational, which is why little is portrayed and much less is it sold.
But in this space each one of the followers of all the organizations that are not in the JAFC and NFC Championship games.
Fortunately for everyone, the NFL is a league where most teams are resilient.
Over the past 13 seasons (2009-21), five teams have gone from last place in their divisions to their conference championship games the following year. With Cincinnati and San Francisco, This is the fifth year since 1970 in which several organizations advance to the conference finals to culminate in the campaign in the basement of their division.
If either team wins Sunday, it will become the fifth organization since 2000 to earn a spot in the Super Bowl with the immediate past of a disastrous season. Cheer up Jaguars, Lions, Texans, Jets, etc, the statistic puts them in the conversation.
During the two games on Sunday, several players can capture a piece in the history books.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, whose career will rest in the Hall of Fame, is one victory away from tying the legendary Tom Landry (20) with the second most wins for a trainer only below the monk’s hood Bill Belichcik (31).
On the other side of the Arrowhead field, it will be Zac Taylor, who with his baby face seeks to become the sixth coach in the annals of the NFL to add victories in each of his first three postseason duels and the first since Doug Pederson did it with the Eagles in 2017.
There are so many narratives and lenses one can take into Sunday’s two matchups that we might get lost along the way.
Last week I didn’t hit any divisional matchups and I don’t blame myself, they were wild results. Given the closeness of the boards, I was so close to hitting it but in the end I stayed on the losing side like the Titans, Packers, Bucs and Bills. That’s why my heart goes out to them.
Bengals en Chiefs (-7):
Kansas City is the first organization to host four consecutive championship games. If they win at home, they will be the fourth team with three Super Bowls in a row.
The Bengals travel to Arrowhead Stadium for their third AFC Championship Game appearance in their history. Cincinnati won its previous two games against San Diego in the 1981 season and against Buffalo in 1988.
Joe Burrow will become the first quarterback taken with the No. 1 overall pick to start a conference finals in his second year in the league. Burrow is coming off 28 of 37 attempts (75.7 percent) for 348 yards against Tennessee in the divisional round.
He has been the best in the NFL in all passing metrics. 10 to 19 passing yards since Week 7.
In the other side, Patrick Mahomes with a win on Sunday, he can become the 13th quarterback all-time to start in three or more Super Bowls, and the sixth to do so before his 30th birthday. Mahomes is 7-1 in eight career postseason starts at Arrowhead Stadium, with 23 touchdown passes, one interception and a 120.5 rating.
In fact, Pat has only lost in the postseason against teams where Tom Brady is. The man with the seven rings is out of the race, so many might consider the Chiefs to have a free pass.
While the two franchises have never met in the postseason, they played just four weeks ago, in Week 17 at Paul Brown Stadium. Cincinnati overcame a 14-point deficit to beat Kansas City, 34-31, to clinch the AFC North. The Bengals are 2-1 (.667) against Kansas City since Reid took over the Chiefs in 2013.. Only the Titans (5-2, including the postseason) have a better record against the Chiefs in that span. Bengals 21-30 Chiefs
49 ers en Rams (-3.5):
San Francisco is the only team not a division champion at this point. For the third straight season, the NFL has a team in a Championship Game that did not win its division, that is, it drags its way from the wild card round, as happened last year with Brady’s Buccaneers.
The Rams are the first team to host a conference Championship Game in a stadium that will also host the Super Bowl in the same postseason.
The 49ers and the The Rams have met only once in the postseason: the 1989 NFC Championship, a 30-3 victory over San Francisco at Candlestick Park. San Francisco went on to defeat Denver in Super Bowl XXIV. This season, beginning with their Week 10 victory against the Rams, the 49ers have won nine of their last 11 games before Sunday’s contest, including the postseason.
This should be a close duel 49ers 17-20 Rams
Parlay
Chiefs -7 over
Rams -3.5 under
