Thought for today...
When life isn't a bed of roses, remember who wore the thorns.
Here's a look back at the AFC and NFC Championship games and a look ahead to the Super Bowl.
San Francisco at Philadelphia - I predicted Philadelphia to win, and boy, did they ever! They smashed the 49ers 31-7. It really wasn't a fair fight after the first series for the 49ers. Their starting quarterback, Brock Purdy, who had been undefeated this season, was knocked out of the game with a severe elbow injury. After that, it was just a matter of time until the Eagles rolled up enough points to win the game. I think the Eagles would have won the game without Purdy getting injured, but that left no doubt.
Cincinnati at Kansas City - Even though the Bengals had beaten the Chiefs all three times they had faced them with Joe Burrow as their quarterback, I picked the Chiefs to win, and they did... barely by a score of 23-20. I think two factors were strongly in play. The game was in Arrowhead Stadium, and the Bengals players along with Cincinnati's mayor were disrespecting the Chiefs in a lot of different ways. They referred to Arrowhead as "Burrowhead." The mayor said that Joe Burrow should take a paternity test to see if he is the father of Patrick Mahomes. If the Chiefs needed any more incentive to play out of their minds, that was it. The Chiefs young secondary held up enough to allow Chris Jones and the Chiefs defensive line to put pressure on Burrow, sack him five times, and cause him to throw two interceptions. Mahomes limped his way to a great day throwing the ball with a high ankle sprain on his right leg. He took off on a run to the right side, got a first down, and got pushed after he was out of bounds allowing the Chiefs to get into field goal range with eight seconds left. Harrison Butker made the 45 yard field goal, and the Chiefs were off to the Super Bowl. After the game, Chris Jones said to not ever disrespect Arrowhead Stadium, and Travis Kelce told the Cincinnati mayor, "Know Your Role and Shut Your Mouth! You Jabroni!"
That sets up a Super Bowl of Kansas City and Philadelphia. It is the NFC's turn to be the home team, so I expect the Eagles to wear their home green jerseys and the Chiefs to wear white jerseys. I think the game will come down to whether the Chiefs can slow down the Eagles running game and whether the Chiefs offensive line can keep the Eagles pass rush off of Patrick Mahomes long enough to give him time enough to throw the ball downfield. Jalen Hurts has the ability to throw the ball down the field if the Eagles running game is slowed, but he has not shown much accuracy doing that since he injured his should late in the season. Eagles fans have to hope Hurts is healthy enough to throw the ball accurately. If the Eagles get an early two score lead, it will be hard for the Chiefs to come back against the Eagles pass rush. However, if the Chiefs can keep it close until the 4th quarter, Mahomes is fully capable of putting on his Superman cape and leading the Chiefs to victory. I'll take the Chiefs in a close one by a score of 27-24.
May God always be your number 1 draft pick!
Draftman Rick