KANSAS CITY – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Four teams are left in the race for the Lombardi.

Two-time defending champion Kansas City, the top seed in the AFC, welcomes an opponent the Chiefs know all too well — and not just because of a 30-21 loss at Buffalo on Nov. 17.

This is the fourth postseason meeting in five years between the Bills and Chiefs, with marquee quarterbacks front and center.

A new name in lights, rookie Jayden Daniels, orchestrated a landslide upset of the NFC favorite and No. 1-seeded Detroit Lions last week to set up the Washington Commanders for a third game in three months against East division rival Philadelphia.

The Eagles are crossing their fingers quarterback Jalen Hurts can be ready after a knee injury slowed him down in a 28-22 home win over the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional playoffs. Philadelphia’s plan still centers around the man lined up behind Hurts — running back Saquon Barkley — who delivered the goods in both games with Washington in the regular season.

More details and all the dirt on Sunday’s AFC Championship and NFC Championship in the capsules below:

NFC Championship Game
No. 6 Washington Commanders (14-5) at No. 2 Philadelphia Eagles (16-3)
Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, FOX/FOX Deportes

The NFC title game in Philadelphia completes a trilogy between rivals and the fifth time teams from the same division square off in the conference championship. This is Washington’s first championship game appearance since 1991, when the franchise won its last Super Bowl.

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni has 52 wins in his first four seasons. Only George Seifert, who inherited a gunpowder-infused roster in San Francisco, has more victories (57). Joe Gibbs and Mike Tomlin are the only head coaches with two Super Bowl appearances in their first four seasons. Sirianni would join them with a win over Washington today.

Previously this season, the Eagles defeated the Commanders, 26-18, on Nov. 14 as Barkley rushed for 146 yards, including two rushing touchdowns in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter to seal the win. In Week 16, Washington overcame a 13-point fourth quarter deficit to defeat Philadelphia, 36-33, as Daniels set a career high with five TD passes. He threw the game-winning TD with six seconds left after Eagles backup Kenny Pickett’s pass to likely seal the win was dropped by Barkley.

Philadelphia ranked No. 1 in total defense in 2024 and intercepted Daniels three times in two games. At the heart of the defense, second-year defensive tackle Jalen Carter took over late in last week’s win over the Rams with a key sack and forced fumble. Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury threw a few bouquets at Carter this week, calling him “maybe the best I’ve ever seen” at the position. The Eagles have more firepower behind Carter with Defensive Player of the Year candidate Zack Baun and all-rookie defensive backs Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. Mitchell’s shoulder injury forced him out of last week’s game.

Barkley has the third-most rushing yards (2,329) and is fourth in total yards (2,638) in the NFL’s single-season record books. Broncos running back Terrell Davis set the record in 1998.

The game is a second homecoming for Commanders tight end Zach Ertz, who is second in Eagles franchise history to Hall of Famer Harold Carmichael with 639 receptions. Ertz caught a TD pass for visiting Washington when the teams played in November.

AFC Championship Game
No. 2 Buffalo Bills (15-4) at No. 1 Kansas City Chiefs (16-2)
Sunday, 6:30 p.m. ET, CBS/Paramount+

Buffalo beat the Chiefs after Kansas City’s 9-0 start to the regular season, taking a 30-21 victory to push the Bills’ regular-season winning streak over the Chiefs to four games. But Kansas City rattled off six consecutive wins to earn the No. 1 seed and first-round bye in the AFC. The Chiefs have three consecutive victories over the Bills in the playoffs — the 2020 AFC Championship Game and 2021 and 2023 AFC divisional wins.

Quarterback Josh Allen is tightening the margins for opponents by taking care of the ball. Buffalo sports a plus-27 turnover margin and is the first team in NFL history with zero turnovers in four consecutive playoff games. Including the postseason, the Bills lead the NFL with 35 takeaways and a league-low eight turnovers in 19 total games. No team has ever reached the Super Bowl with 10 or fewer turnovers.

Counterpart Patrick Mahomes knows a thing or two about coming out on top in close games. Turnovers? It’s been eight games — since Week 12 of the regular season — without losing the ball for Kansas City, as the Chiefs peak on schedule. The Chiefs have won eight playoff games in a row, the third-longest such streak all-time (2001-2005 New England Patriots – 10 consecutive wins; 1961-67 Green Bay Packers – nine) and since Week 12.

Stopping the run will be a vital element to winning Sunday, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo noted this week. He pointed to James Cook’s 16 rushing touchdowns and Allen’s game-sealing rumble that beat Kansas City earlier this season.

Buffalo allowed 176 yards rushing to the Ravens, who gained 416 total yards but had three critical turnovers.

Bills safety Taylor Rapp was ruled out with a hip injury on Friday. It’s likely rookie Cole Bishop will be in the starting 11 against Mahomes on Sunday night.

Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is two TD receptions shy of tying the all-time playoff record held by Jerry Rice (22). Kelce hauled in a pair of Mahomes TD passes in the Chiefs’ playoff win at Buffalo last year. He added a touchdown reception as part of a seven-catch, 117-yard game last week to beat the Houston Texans.

Mahomes and Andy Reid have the Chiefs in the AFC Championship for the eighth consecutive season. Mahomes’ 16 playoff wins are second among all starting quarterbacks, he owns the second-highest postseason passer rating (105.6, minimum 150 attempts), fifth-most postseason touchdown passes (42) and eighth-most postseason passing yards (5,312) in NFL playoff history.

Only three teams have reached the Super Bowl three consecutive seasons: the 1990-93 Bills (four consecutive), 1971-73 Miami Dolphins (three) and 2016-18 Patriots (three).

–Field Level Media

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PHILADELPHIA – (Staff and Wire Service Report from Field Level Media) – San Francisco QB Brock Purdy emerged out of nowhere to become just the third rookie quarterback in NFL history to win his first two postseason starts.

However, a bigger prize looms on the horizon when the San Francisco 49ers play in the NFC Championship Game for the third time in four seasons, visiting the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.

Purdy will be striving to lead the second-seeded 49ers to their second Super Bowl appearance in the past four seasons. His rise from the 262nd and last pick in the NFL draft to unbeaten in seven career starts is becoming legendary stuff.

Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens in 2008-09 and Mark Sanchez of the New York Jets in 2009-10 are the other rookies to win their first two playoff starts.

“He doesn’t care if he messes up,” 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel said. “If he does, he’s going to go full speed and we’ll talk about it at the end of the day.

“I have seen him grow throughout the whole year from zero snaps to being the starter of this team.”

Philadelphia’s defense, which ranked second in total defense (301.5 yards per game) in the regular season, will be the best Purdy has faced. Counting the postseason, the Eagles have racked up 75 sacks, third most in NFL history. The only two higher outputs came from the mid-1980s Chicago Bears, who had a record 82 in 1984 and 80 in 1985.

Also part of the equation is the raucous Philadelphia crowd, which will provide noise.

“In these games, it all comes back to communication,” Purdy said. “How can you operate smoothly, get in and out of the huddle, get the play off in the right way and make sure everybody is on the same page. It’s definitely a big emphasis this week.”

The Eagles feature NFL MVP finalist Jalen Hurts at quarterback, an elite runner who has turned into a strong thrower. Hurts passed for 22 touchdowns and rushed for 13 during the regular season.

Hurts threw for two scores and ran for one as Philadelphia routed the New York Giants 38-7 in the NFC divisional round.

The 49ers led the NFL in total defense (300.6 yards per game) and scoring defense (16.3 points per game). San Francisco defensive end Nick Bosa (NFL-high 18.5 sacks) is a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year honors.

“They’re really good across the board,” Hurts said. “It starts out with their front seven and then adding a really good defensive back group. They fly to the ball at every position and they’re well-coached. We have a task in front of us and a really big challenge.”

The Eagles are in the NFC title game for the first time since the 2017-18 season when they went on to win the Super Bowl.

Philadelphia is a 2.5-point favorite at DraftKings and BetMGM, where the line opened at 2.0 but shifted with the Eagles drawing 76 percent of the spread-line bets and 85 percent of the money. The line is moving to 3.0 points in most shops.

The line had moved to 3.0 points by Saturday at BetRivers, where Philadelphia covering was drawing more than twice as much action (28.3 percent) than any other play among the two conference championship games (Bengals +1.0, 12.4 percent).

This will be only the second game of the season in which San Francisco enters as the underdog. BetRivers reported the 49ers have covered in nine consecutive games against NFC opponents and are 13-6 ATS this season.

PROP PICKS
Purdy Over 0.5 INTs (-140 at DraftKings): All three sports books are offering the same prop, with the potential payout slightly better at DraftKings as of mid-day Saturday. Purdy hasn’t thrown a pick since Week 17 and has 59 pass attempts through his first two playoff games without committing a turnover. But the Eagles’ defense can bring pressure from any angle, with four players registering double-digit sacks. Purdy is still a rookie, and under pressure he has a tendency to spin out of the pocket and will force the occasional ball downfield – and Philly’s defense rarely lets opportunities slip away.

49ers RB Christian McCaffrey Anytime TD (-120 at BetMGM): This has been the most popular NFC prop at several sportsbooks. McCaffrey missed practice time with a calf injury this week but has vowed to play. When he plays, McCaffrey typically finds the end zone — including at least once in eight consecutive games entering Sunday.

Over 46.5 Total Points (-110 at BetRivers): It’s easy to lean Under given the strength of these two defenses. But that inclination hasn’t played out over the course of the season, with the sports book reporting these are two of only six teams to hit the Over in more than half of their games. Good defenses also create short fields, which create scoring opportunities. And both offenses have plenty of offensive firepower to take advantage.

Eagles WR A.J. Brown Over 68.5 Receiving Yards (-115 at BetMGM): The Giants didn’t do much right defensively last week other than hold Brown to 22 yards on a trio of catches. That has been the exception to the rule, with Brown topping 68.5 yards in the six games leading up to the Eagles’ playoff opener. He will draw a difficult matchup with Charvarius Ward likely tracking him most of the game, but Ward proved vulnerable to another big, physical wideout in Seattle’s D.K. Metcalf two weeks ago.

Hurts Anytime TD (+118 at BetRivers): This has been the second most popular NFC prop at the sportsbook, drawing 3.1 percent of the total tickets and the second most money. Hurts has six rushing touchdowns in his past five games, including one last weekend as the Eagles have increasingly relied on his legs with opponents also having to respect Philly’s ground game near the goal line.

INJURY REPORT
49ers: QB Jimmy Garoppolo (foot) was officially ruled out. McCaffrey (knee) and fellow RB Elijah Mitchell (groin) missed multiple practices this week but are expected to play. McCaffrey is expected to play while Mitchell was listed as questionable along with CB Ambry Thomas (ankle). Coach Kyle Shanahan said Charles Omenihu (oblique), who was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic violence earlier this week, would play if healthy.

Eagles: MLB T.J. Edwards (ankle) was the only player listed as limited in Friday’s practice and Philadelphia is expected to have everyone available.

PREDICTION
Purdy has been unflappable in winning his first seven career starts, including a pair of playoff games. He also hasn’t faced a defense the likes of the Eagles, who will bring a slew of different looks and pressure from all angles. The 49ers’ defense is equally impressive, but Philly capitalizes on a turnover or two and takes advantage of shorter fields to win a tight contest throughout. –Eagles 26-23

DSD PREDICTION: McCaffrey gets it done and the 49ers team defense holds Hurts and Philly down. 49ers 21-17

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