NFL Championship Sunday Preview

I’ll be reviewing the championship games coming up this Sunday to determine who moves onto Miami To play in the Super Bowl. I’ll give what I think are the key matchups for each team followed by my prediction for the outcomes of each game. Let’s get into it.

Tennessee Titans at Kansas City Chiefs- Let’s be honest, when the season began, no one had this set as their AFC Championship matchup. I’m willing to bet that outside of the Titans organization and fan base, that no one had them making it this far. Yet here we sit. For Tennessee, the attack offensively is simple, FEED THE BEAST! RB Derrick Henry is on an unprecedented run right now racking up over 175 yards his last 3 contests leading the Titans to this point 60 minutes away from a Super Bowl berth. QB Ryan Tannehill needs to continue his smart, game managing ability that has got him this far. The key for them is both of these guys playing in sync with one another and controlling time of possession. Anything to keep the ball out of Kansas City QB Patrick Mahomes’s hands needs to be done here. If Henry can continue his dominant play and open things up in the passing game, I look for rookie WR AJ Brown to have a key role in this game. Defensively, the plan is simple. Make Patrick Mahomes flustered and cause mistakes. They will be able to achieve this if both S Logan Ryan and Kenny Vaccaro continue their lights out play this postseason. For the Chiefs, Mahomes needs to be the same QB he has been since returning from injury and continue to find his main target TE Travis Kelce. Kelce had a spectacular showing last week against Houston and will need to keep that rolling this week. Defensively they need to do one thing, stuff the run! If Kansas City can contain Henry, Ryan Tannehill will have a bigger role and as we have seen in the past, that’s not always a good thing. My prediction is this, if Kansas City can protect Mahomes and stop the run they will win in a blowout. It’s not that simple. Not with these Titans. Eerily similar to the 07 Giants, this Tennessee run has been anchored by their defense and I see no reason to say that stops now except, they haven’t played THESE Chiefs. I think it’s a close contest but KC moves on. Chiefs 30 Titans 28

Green Bay Packers at San Francisco 49ers- This is more of a matchup we fully expected to see this postseason. The top 2 seeds in the NFC meet in what should be and has all the makings to be an instant classic. For the Green Bay Packers, offensively, there are 2 things that are critical for victory. They need most importantly to protect Aaron Rodgers and five him the time he needs to make a play. Also if they are unable to protect Rodgers, they will rely heavily on RB Aaron Jones both in the running game and catching the ball out of the backfield. The 49ers offensively need to keep the same mentality they’ve had to get them here. Defense, Run the ball, and George Kittle. RB’s Tevin Coleman and Ricky Mostert are a 2 headed monster in the backfield and will be heavily used and relied on this weekend. Their success will be the 49ers success and I think that the secondary and pass rush of the 49ers will be what puts them over the top to head to Miami. 49ers 24 Packers 14