Conference Championships
And then there were four.
Four teams have made it to this point in the season where the records of the past year do not matter. If you were 8-8 or 16-0 that is all out the window and it comes down to one game for all the marbles. These four teams have proved to be the best in their divisions as well as the two best teams in their Conferences. One team may have the edge due to home field but how much will that play into the games? So what do you say lets get to it.
AFC
In the AFC we have the Kansas City Chiefs at home versus the perennial contender New England Patriots. It has been since 2010 that the Patriots have not been in the final two of the AFC finale. This year they face a truly dynamic offense in the Chiefs.
NBC has an interesting stat if you believe it as the Pats come into this game as a rare underdog. It is true that the Pats are 11-5 vs the Chiefs 12-4, but the Pats are 3-5 when playing away. 3-5 for the Patriots I can’t remember when they have lost that many away games. The Patriots are also 3-5 when it comes to AFC Championship road games under Bill Belichick and have only one win in Arrowhead stadium that opened in 1972.
The Kansas City Chiefs are the favorites this week according to ESPN, with a better then 66 percent chance of beating the Patriots. With an average of near or over 30 points per game this season the Chiefs are a tough team to keep pace with when it comes to scoring. The defense for the most part of the Chiefs has ranked at the bottom of the chart at 31 according to ESPN. With that kind of performance from the “D” it shows how potent their offense really is. There is a “Not so old saying, that defense wins championships”, can the Chiefs defense step up to the task and stop the Patriots this week? Will Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs trickery topple Brady and the Patriots or will Brady have a chance at getting his “Six Pack”?
NFC
The NFC Championship game has two of the most prolific teams in the sport this year. The Los Angeles Rams have one of the best all around teams in the league. A defense that has standouts and Pro Bowlers like Aaron Donald and Cory Littleton, the offense has Jared Goff and Todd Gurley and a plethora of wide receivers. ESPN shows that the Rams have had a few hiccups in the last five games of the season losing to both the Bears and the Eagles. They were not really challenged in the next two games against the 49ers and the Cardinals but had an impressive win against the Cowboys in the final game of the Season. Sunday we will see if the Rams can go back to the Super Bowl and win one for Los Angeles.
The New Orleans Saints and Drew Brees are playing some of their best football with Drew just turning 40. Brees is still a very mobile QB and a running game that features Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram gives maybe the reason for the 63% winning probability that ESPN has, home field does not hurt either. The Saints have been to just one Super Bowl. That appearance was in 2010 where they beat the Colts 31-17. This game between the Saints and the Rams may be the highest scoring game of the weekend with an over/under of 57 we could see a true shootout.
Rams vs. The Saints starts at 3:05 p.m. eastern time on Fox.
Patriots vs. Kansas City Chiefs at 6:40 p.m. eastern time on CBS.
Prediction
Well this could be a wild weekend between these 4 teams. It truly is going to be a toss up as to who could win in each conference. My Super Bowl picks are going to be based strictly on the home teams. I believe its going to come down to the Saints and the Chiefs. Both stadiums are hard for visitors to pull off a “W”. I believe the Rams at the Saints game will end up 34-40. I think the Chiefs and Patriots game will end 28-35. Time will tell and Sunday will be the judge of this years big game. Good luck to all it’s been a hell of a year so far.