NFL Championship Sunday is Set

As Vince Lombardi said, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”

Later, Lombardi said he wished he hadn’t said it, not wanting to “crush human values and morality.” But on the football field, when it comes to advancing in the playoffs, it’s true. In the four Divisional Round games played this weekend, the four teams that gained the most total yards lost.

By hook or by crook, goes another famous saying. And it means simply that whatever it takes to win and advance, you take it. Ugly wins are far better than prettier losses. Winning is the only thing.

NFC Championship Game

The Washington Commanders gave up 207 yards rushing on 8.7 yards per carry. They allowed 336 yards passing, and 31 points. And yet they are moving on to the NFC Championship Game because among all those big plays that they allowed, they also forced five turnovers.

The fear was that Washington wouldn’t be able to stop the Detroit Lions. Those fears were realized, and then some. But they won anyway, and Washington now sits one game away from its first Super Bowl in 33 years.

The stage was supposed to be too big for rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels. This was a rebuilding year for Washington. The Lions were inevitable, and the favorite to win the Super Bowl. None of that turned out to be true.

The Commanders are for real, and Daniels will carry himself into Sunday’s NFC Championship Game as the best quarterback in the conference.

The best player in the conference is Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley. Quarterback Jalen Hurts was inaccurate and took bad sacks. The staunch Eagles defense gave up more than 100 yards rushing to Kyren Williams and more than 300 yards passing to Matthew Stafford, and the Los Angeles Rams outgained the Eagles through the air by 226 yards.

But Barkley in the postseason was just like Barkley in the regular season, rushing for 205 yards and two touchdowns, and leading his team to victory. The Eagles are now back in the NFC Championship Game for the second time in three years, and they have become the betting favorite to win the Super Bowl, paying +175.

The early line for the NFC Championship Game is Eagles -5.5.

AFC Championship Game

Josh Allen ran for 20 yards and only threw for 127 yards, and you would look at those numbers and assume the Baltimore Ravens beat the Buffalo Bills. Derrick Henry averaged 5.3 yards per carry and Lamar Jackson finished with 39 yards rushing and 254 yards passing, and you would look at those numbers and assume the Ravens beat the Bills quite easily.

Buffalo won, and it is Buffalo moving on to the AFC Championship Game.

Baltimore committed three turnovers, they dropped multiple passes, and on the game’s final play, when a completed two-point conversion would send the game into overtime, tight end Mark Andrews dropped it.

Jackson was not good in the first half, but he was great in the second half. But the hole that has been dug was too deep. Henry was not good in the first half, and he was great in the third quarter. But by the fourth quarter, the Ravens offense had to abandon the run.

The Bills finished with just 273 total yards, and Allen didn’t throw a touchdown for just the third time all season. But the Bills are back in the AFC Championship Game for the first time in four years, when they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.

That loss four years ago was the first of three playoff losses to the Chiefs for Josh Allen and the Bills. Kansas City ended his season a year later in the Divisional Round, and again last year in the Divisional Round. And the team they will play this year in the AFC Championship Game is once again the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chiefs hosted the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round, and the excellent Houston defense held the Chiefs to just 212 total yards. The Texans led in total yards, first downs, third down conversions, and time of possession. But they also led in missed and blocked kicks with three, sacks allowed with eight, and really bad fourth down failures.

The Texans outgained the Chiefs by 124 yards, but lost, 23-14. Patrick Mahomes was the best player on the field when he needed to be, and Travis Kelce turned back the clock with a vintage performance. Kelce had seven catches for 117 yards and a touchdown, and his ninth 100-yard receiving game in the postseason broke the record he previously shared with Jerry Rice.

In the continuation of the Bills-Chiefs rivalry, Kansas City has opened as 1.5 point favorites.