Championship weekend football!
There were some great games over the NFL’s divisional playoff weekend and now we know the matchups for this weekend’s conference championship round. We are down to the final four teams, and they are the best team’s in the league.
The NFL’s conference championship round starts Sunday afternoon with the NFC’s final two teams. The Philadelphia Eagles had the best record in the conference this year, but had to deal with a shoulder injury to QB Jalen Hurts near the end of the season. He came back during Week 18 to help his team lock up the #1 seed. On Saturday Hurts and the Eagles dismantled the Giants in a complete rout that was never close. Philly stays at home to host the San Francisco 49ers who finished off the Dallas Cowboy’s last night. This should be a fun game to watch between two teams who are tough to beat on both sides of the ball. Their defenses are both top 5, and they both have innovative offenses with a lot of versatile weapons. Rookie Brock Purdy has been leading the 49ers since becoming the starter due to injuries to both QBs in front of him on the depth chart, and he just needs one more win to get to the Super Bowl.
The AFC Championship will be a rematch from last year between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Kansas City Chiefs. The Bengals won that game last year and went to the Super Bowl, losing to the Los Angeles Rams. This game will be a little different due to the injury that Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes suffered on Saturday. He suffered a high ankle sprain in the 1st half, and backup Chad Henne came in and scored a TD. Mahomes fought through the pain and came back during the 2nd half, and was able to lead his team to a 27-20 win over the Jaguars. Joe Burrow and the Bengals made it look easy vs the Bills yesterday in a snowy game in Buffalo. Their win over the Bills cancelled the NFL’s plans to have a neutral site AFC Championship game in Atlanta if the game. Joe Burrow, who loves a good one-liner, said the NFL “better send the refunds” for the 50,000+ tickets they proudly announced had been sold for the Atlanta stadium.
The two #1 seeds are both favorites at home for the conference championship games, but these games both have low spreads. There was a lot of movement in the betting lines yesterday, especially with Patrick Mahomes injury that he says he will play through. The Eagles have the bigger spread, but all of these teams are close in talent level. The Super Bowl odds are some of the closest I can remember going into championship weekend.
Who’s headed to #SBLVII? pic.twitter.com/qJuoepa5BX
— NFL (@NFL) January 23, 2023
Conference Championship Round: Jan. 29
NFC
(2) San Francisco 49ers at (1) Philadelphia Eagles
Sunday, 3 p.m. ET on FOX, FOX Deportes
DraftKings Sportsbook odds: Philadelphia -2 1/2, O/U 45 1/2
AFC
(3) Cincinnati Bengals at (1) Kansas City Chiefs
Sunday, 6:30 p.m. ET on CBS, Paramount+
DraftKings Sportsbook odds: Kansas City -1, O/U 47 1/2
Super Bowl odds
Kansas City +260
Philadelphia +260
Cincinnati +270
San Francisco +310