NFL Conference Championships — Luck of the Quarterback Draw

Whoever it was that first said “I’d rather be lucky than good,” must have had the National Football League in mind.

The NFL is a league that frequently finds ways to exasperate its fans. “No end zone celebrations whatsoever or lose 15 yards,” becomes “end zone celebrations are not only allowed, but encouraged” (especially if they are choreographed ahead of time — oy vey!).

“Is it or isn’t it a catch? Did he break the plane? No kneeling! Wait — kneeling is actually valued and respected. But don’t even think about touching the quarterback.”

We see more flags for pass interference than completions on throws beyond twenty yards. Yeah, if you let it, the NFL can drive you crazy.

But despite all of the paper cuts administered by the No Fun League on a weekly basis, we keep coming back. Because football is easily the most TV-friendly of all the sports we fans choose to entertain ourselves with, and the once a week format allows for buildup, hype and anticipation guaranteed to make even the most staid of observers froth at the mouth as kickoff approaches on any given Sunday.

And at no time is that kind of unabashed anticipation more palpable than during the month-long run-up to the Super Bowl, when the “tournament” plays out. Multiple games of consequence on consecutive weekends, culminating in a two-week celebration of Roman Numerals on the first Sunday of February. Heck, we even look forward to the commercials.

Cool as all that may be, there are some years when the NFL’s good fortune just goes…beyond. And here, in January of 2021, the NFL finds themselves face to face with one of those “beyond” weekends. Think about it.

They get an AFC Championship game that features a couple of superstar QB’s on the rise, who represent all that is bright about the league’s future. For only the second time ever, it’s a conference championship featuring two quarterbacks both 25 or younger (the first such matchup was all the way back in ’79, when Vince Ferragamo and the Rams bested Doug Williams and the Buccaneers), one already a Super Bowl MVP, and the other a contender for league MVP honors this season. Chiefs-Bills on Sunday afternoon is appointment-TV for any fan of the gridiron worth his or her salt.

And as if that afternoon matchup featuring Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen wasn’t enough good fortune, the league actually tops it with their Sunday opener, when two NFL Mount Rushmore icons square off on the legendary frozen tundra of Title Town, USA!

I mean, how lucky must the NFL be to have their cards fall in such a way that a conference championship game between future Hall of Fame QB’s Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers on the hallowed, rock hard grounds of Lambeau Field isn’t even the feature game this Sunday?

Yes, the 2020 NFL season is crescendoing at the perfect moment, putting a positive exclamation point on what’s been a remarkable year in the league’s history. The NFL not only successfully navigated the COVID-19 pandemic and completed a regular season without crippling interruptions, but they even brought us an expanded Wild Card round that gave fans more playoff football to enjoy. And now the NFL selects its Super Bowl participants with two evenly-matched, appropriately-hyped conference championship games pitting the game’s greatest current quarterbacks, young and old, against one another.

SportsAttic emphatically quotes the great Bart Scott, when we say, “Can’t wait!” (Home team in ALL CAPS as always)

PACKERS (-3.5) over the Buccaneers — And so the ride ends for Tom Brady and the Bucs, amidst a snowstorm and freezing temperatures in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The problem for Brady and Tampa Bay is that they are simply overmatched in this one. They’ve ridden Brady’s magic coattails as far as they could, but now they face an opponent that appears stronger in every category. For Tampa Bay to have a chance, they need to play the perfect game. Could it happen? Sure. Brady needs to recreate the Tommy/Gronk chemistry of ten years ago, the defense needs to score points, the offense needs to eat clock and win the battle of the line of scrimmage, and they can’t make any mistakes on either side of the ball. Easy enough, right? The Bucs’ D scored more points than any other team in the league this year, so maybe they catch lightning in a bottle there? Maybe? Brady hasn’t thrown an interception on the road since Week One, an astounding NFL-record streak of 368 passes with no picks. Does he have one more week of flawless accuracy in his right arm? Maybe? The Bucs do have legit horses in the backfield, with Leonard “I hate cold weather” Fournette and Ronald Jones, and apply pressure on the opposing QB better than most. But more than anything, the Bucs rely on Brady to work his wonders. In fact, we may as well refer to Tampa Bay as the Bradys here in 2020/2021, rather than the Buccaneers, because that’s how the world has viewed the franchise this season. However, the guy that will be calling the signals for the home team on Sunday is the far better quarterback right now. Aaron Rodgers became just the sixth QB to pass for 50 touchdowns in a single season this year, and is rolling toward his second league MVP award once the playoffs conclude. Rodgers throws to arguably the league’s best wide receiver in Davante Adams, and look for that duo to hook up for at least two more scores on Sunday. The Pack boasts all kinds of fresh legs at running back that will pound away on the Bucs out of the backfield, and the Green Bay defense will continue to be “good enough.” Tampa has the veteran weapons to hang around for a half, maybe even into the fourth quarter, but in the end look for Brady’s streak of passes without an INT on the road to end, and for the Packers to finally get over the hump and advance back to another Super Bowl. (Packers, 37-27).

Bills (+3) over the CHIEFS — This is a pick based on the assumption that Patrick Mahomes will be off his game just enough for the Bills to come away victorious. That is a big if, of course, but it is difficult for us to imagine that the concussion shot Mahomes took a week ago has completely cleared. Yes, we know the NFL has cleared Mahomes through the league’s concussion protocol, and who are we to question the motivations behind the NFL wanting their poster child back on the field — at all costs? So here comes Mahomes, clear head or not, taking on the D that rendered Lamar Jackson ineffective and ultimately incapacitated a week ago. And then there’s the matter of Mahomes’ bad toe. Don’t think for a second that the bad toe didn’t play into the hit that ultimately KO’d the QB last weekend against Cleveland. Mahomes may not be Lamar Jackson when it comes to the ground game, but his speed is a key ingredient of his greatness, and if he is giving up just half a step favoring the toe on Sunday, it makes him an easier target for the fast and aggressive Buffalo front seven. It says here that Mahomes is watching the end of this one from the home team locker room, while Chad Henne takes the final snaps and K.C. fans ponder what might have been. It won’t help the Chiefs’ cause that Clyde Edwards-Helaire is also less than a hundred percent, as is his backup, Le’Veon Bell. All of which leaves a crack in the door for the team we’ve watched grow and improve week after week this season into an AFC power — the Buffalo Bills. Josh Allen showed us something with his performance against the tough Baltimore defense a week ago, and appears poised to take his position as Mahomes’ foil for the next decade or so (the Peyton Manning to Mahomes’ Tom Brady, anyone?). Buffalo is banged up, too, especially at wide receiver, so Allen will need to step up big time if Stefon Diggs and Cole Beasley (both on the Bills injured list this week) can’t find separation against a solid Chiefs secondary. This one is an instinct call — taking the team riding the bigger wave of momentum, with the healthier QB, and the better defense. None of that will matter if Mahomes is Mahomes for sixty minutes, but it says here that won’t happen. And ultimately this one ends with the Chiefs hope for a repeat dashed. (Bills, 31-30).

There you have it — Super Bowl LV on Sunday, February 7th down in Tampa — the Green Bay Packers against the Buffalo Bills.

Can’t wait!