We're down to the final four in the NFL, as this Sunday sees the AFC and NFC Championship games taking place, with a spot in Super Bowl LVIII up for grabs.
In the NFC, the top-seeded San Francisco 49ers will host the Detroit Lions, with the winners of that one taking on either the Kansas City Chiefs or Baltimore Ravens, who will be kicking off Championship game Sunday with a mouthwatering contest in Mayland.
Here is a look at some of the key things to watch out for in that one.
Can Kansas City deal with Baltimore’s all-round threat?
It seems fairly obvious to note that a team with the best quarterback and the best defense in the NFL is historically a good shout to win the Super Bowl. But it’s actually quite rare for these two factors to align, with only four teams ever having a first-team All-Pro quarterback and the number one scoring defense in the same season since the 1970 merger.
Three of those have won the Super Bowl (the Dolphins in 1972, the Steelers in 1978 and the 1996 Packers) and the fourth will be hosting the AFC Championship game this weekend. Lamar Jackson played the best post-season game of his career last weekend against the Texans, while the defence allowed just 213 yards.
That all looks like a team as a whole that are peaking at the best possible time and for the Chiefs that means there is little room for error on their part. If they fail to make inroads into the Ravens D they will hand Jackson the opportunity to make things happen, which the hosts hope will be their path to victory.
Can the Kansas City defense deliver when it matters again?
While the Chiefs’ offense struggled to find their feet earlier in the season, it was the defense that kept their season alive, going from a middle-of-the-road unit last season to the league’s second-best this season.
After restricting a beat-up Dolphins to just seven points in the Wild Card round, the Chiefs faced a tougher assignment in Buffalo last weekend, shipping in 17 first-half points before a much improved second-half showing that let the offense get them over the line.
And here’s what could be a vital part of Sunday’s game - Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s in-game adjustments. Kansas City have not allowed more than seven second-half points since Week 14 and Mahomes knows exactly what his defense is capable of doing when it comes to the crunch.
“Through three quarters, offensively, we were moving the ball up and down the field but we got shut down in the fourth quarter,” Mahomes said after the win in Buffalo last weekend. “I went over to the defense and I told them, I said, 'Y'all shut it down and we'll win this football game. We'll go to the AFC Championship Game.' And they did going into that fourth quarter.”
Is Travis Kelce peaking at the right time?
By his own lofty standards, Travis Kelce has not had a vintage year. We’ll leave whether you believe that’s due to Father Time or you-know-who for another day, but the KC tight end looks to be trending in the right direction at the best possible time.
With 12 catches for 146 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the Chiefs two playoff wins so far, Kelce has reminded us why he is Mahomes top target and has finally given the QB the kind of support he has become accustomed to again.
His battle with Ravens’ All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton will be one of the best individual battles to watch out for this weekend,
Lamar the leader
When it comes to players who have changed their personal narratives over the past 12 months, it’s hard to look past Lamar Jackson. A long-run contract saga had been rumbling on all season and still not be resolved until the end of April. Jackson had missed the final five games of the regular season through injury and watched his team get dumped out of the playoffs by the Bengals from the sidelines. While his ability was not questioned, his 1-3 playoff record was an albatross around his neck.
The 27-year-old has systematically moved to silence his critics this year, seemingly set for a second MVP award and answering his playoff naysayers during the win over the Texans last weekend.
What jumped out here was the leadership skills and maturity he displayed. He embarked on a reported half-time locker room outburst when the scores were level, with the subsequent second-half romp showing that his team-mates have bought into Lamar the leader.
Weather-watch
Just as they faced last weekend in Buffalo, the Chiefs will be up against a hostile crowd and plenty of weather this weekend. Rain is forecast in Baltimore on Sunday as Patrick Mahomes prepares for only the second road playoff game of his career.
It came as little surprise that Mahomes wasn’t phased by this last weekend, but should the conditions bite, then both sides may be forced into leaning on their running games, potentially taking away some of the Mahomes X-factor that has got their Chiefs this far by limiting his opportunities to make things happen in the air.
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