The road to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans is coming to an end. Let’s take a look at the 2025 NFC and AFC Championship Games to see who will ultimately move on to Super Sunday.
NFL Conference Championship Sunday has been long regarded as the most exciting weekend in sports and that should continue with these two phenomenal matchups with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line in both games. As the road to the Super Bowl comes near its end, let’s take a look at the matchups ahead.
The NFL’s final four take the stage to determine who moves on to Super Bowl LIX. The AFC title matchup features the two of the NFL’s best quarterbacks and dominant defenses, while the NFC title matchup features two of the NFL’s most exciting offenses. These games should be quite entertaining!
Last week, I went 2-2
I told you so: Eagles over Rams!
What do I know: Ravens over Bills?
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
#6 Washington Commanders at #2 Philadelphia Eagles
Sunday, January 26th – 2:00pm CST – FOX
The Philadelphia Eagles are playing in the NFC Championship game for the second time in three years, while the Washington Commanders are playing in their first NFC Championship Game in 33 years. This is only the fourth NFC Championship Game over the last two decades to feature division rivals vying for the conference title. The previous three games were all one-score games, and the defending division champion, the home team, went 2-1 in those title games. Philadelphia may have been seeded second in the NFC this season, but they were arguably the true top-team in the conference, with the most balance on offense and defense. With Saquon Barkley playing at his career best, he has taken the Eagles on his back and along for the ride with him. Philly may provide an even greater offensive challenge that Washington saw in Detroit, which almost seems impossible.
Washington has been the story of these NFL playoffs, pulling out a road win in the best game of the Wild Card round, then following that up with the most stunning upset of these playoffs, outclassing the NFC’s best team of the 2024 regular season. Washington, a franchise that outside of two early playoff exits, have spent the last decade in mediocrity, controversy, and irrelevance, but now have new life thanks to a new coaching staff, and most importantly, a new and exciting franchise quarterback in Jayden Daniels. Daniels has been superb in these playoffs, but the degree of difficulty has drastically increased, on the road in remarkably hostile territory, against a team that knows him as well as any in the NFL. Washington is playing with house money in a way that few teams ever have, coming into a conference title game, and they will provide a great game that comes down to the very end, but Philadelphia pulls out the game and the NFC title in the closing moments of this fantastic contest.
Pick: Eagles
Final Score: 30-27
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#2 Buffalo Bills at #1 Kansas City Chiefs
Sunday, January 26th – 5:30pm CST – CBS
From 2011-2018, the New England Patriots played in eight-consecutive AFC Championship Games, an unprecedented run that many believed couldn’t be duplicated, but here we are with the Kansas City Chiefs entering their seventh-consecutive AFC Championship Game, with no end in sight as long as Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes are in KC. In year one, the Chiefs faced defeat in OT to the Pats in the end of the Brady/Belichick Super Bowl dynasty. In year two, they defeated a Tennessee squad leaning on an old school approach. In year three, they defeated a Buffalo team who honestly believed they were the next in line in the AFC. In year four, the Bengals stunned the Arrowhead crowd to wrestle away the AFC title from the perennial champs. In year five, the Bengals almost took out the Chiefs at Arrowhead for a second-straight year, but KC found a way in the closing moments. In year six, the Ravens were finally the first team to get KC away from Arrowhead in the title game, but it didn’t matter in the end.
This year, the Buffalo Bills finally get another crack at Kansas City, Josh Allen gets another playoff chance at Patrick Mahomes. In three previous playoff matchups, Mahomes has gone 3-0 against Allen’s Bills. Allen and Buffalo knows they’ll have to finally slay Mahomes and KC to finally reach the Super Bowl, and that opportunity is here, but it may be the opposite side of the ball that determines the winner of the AFC title. Steve Spagnuolo’s defense will ultimately be the great equalizer is this showdown. KC’s defense, forged by moments like this, will be up to the task of neutralizing Josh Allen and the Buffalo offense in the most crucial moments. Mahomes and the Chiefs continue their path to an unprecedented third-consecutive Super Bowl title, while Buffalo once again finds themselves saying “maybe next year”.
Pick: Chiefs
Final Score: 27-23
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Well, there you have it ladies and gentlemen, your potential conference champions. Even without the New Orleans Saints in the playoffs, we definitely have some players and story lines to root for and against this weekend. Leave us your picks, insight, and comments below!