NFL 2023 Conference Championship Recap

 Hello readers! Another week of National Football League action has come to an end. After all the carnage of training camp and the regular season. Through the bloodbath of the playoffs. We now have our two teams that will represent both the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference in Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas. The representative from the AFC is the Kansas City Chiefs and the representative for the NFC is the San Francisco 49ers.

NFL Conference Championship Freaky Stat

For the fourth time in five years, the Kansas City Chiefs are AFC champions. Only the 1990's Buffalo Bills and 2010's New England Patriots have equaled that number. The Lions last road playoff win came in the 1957 playoffs against the 49ers. The Lions won by overcoming a 24-7 deficit. In the NFC Championship game, the Lions had a 24-7 lead and the 49ers overcame it. 

NFL Conference Championship Recap

Kansas City 17, Baltimore 10: TW: Ravens; CV: Ravens

Patrick Mahomes is still undefeated in road playoff games. Patrick Mahomes hit 30 of 39 passes for 241 yards with a touchdown pass to Travis Kelce. The pass to Kelce came on the Chiefs first drive in the game on a 19-yard, deep pass to the right. Travis Kelce was the workhorse in the game with 11 catches for 116 receiving yards with the aforementioned touchdown. Isiah Pacheco carried the ball for 24 carries for 68 yards with the Chiefs 2nd touchdown on a 2-yard run to the left. Harrison Butker hit one field goal from 52 yards that gave the Chiefs the 17 points in the game. Kansas City would put up the yardage mostly in the 1st half but finished with 319 total yards to close out the game. The key to the win was protecting Mahomes and limiting the Ravens offense to 110 total yards at halftime. It also helped when the Chiefs defense recovered two fumbles and one interception. Lamar Jackson would have a trying game as he hit 20 of 37 passes for 272 yards with a touchdown pass to Zay Flowers on the Ravens 2nd drive in the 1st quarter. Lamar Jackson's legs rushed for 54 yards on eight carries. Gus Edwards rushed for 20 yards on three carries. Zay Flowers had a game of good and bad. The good was him catching five passes for 115 yards with a touchdown. The bad would come on a taunting penalty and a fumble that Flowers had while diving into the endzone. Baltimore started slow on offense with 110 total yards at halftime but managed to get to 336 total yards to finish the game. The total yardage was there, the points were not. On two drives where the Ravens were driving down the field, they gave up the ball twice on a fumble and an interception. Penalties were the thing that killed the Ravens in the game as they were flagged eight times for 95 yards. The ones that hurt the most was the taunting, 12 men on the field and the unnecessary roughness flags. One shocking thing was that the Ravens only rushed the ball sixteen times when they were the #1 rushing team in the NFL. Suffice to say the mistakes and turnovers costed them a chance to move on. For the Chiefs, they move on and take on the  in Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas. For the Ravens, their magical season falters in a gut punching way and will have to watch the Super Bowl at home. 

Next game: 

Kansas City: Super Bowl LVIII vs San Francisco
Baltimore: hang out at home and watch the Super Bowl

TW: 0-1; CV: 0-1

Detroit 31, San Francisco 34: TW: Lions; CV: Lions

A tale of two halves. Jared Goff hit 25 of 41 passes for 273 yards with a touchdown pass to Jameson Williams that would cut the 49er lead to a 34-31 score. Jameson Williams the runner scored the Lions first touchdown on a 42-yard play on the Lions first drive with 13:27 left in the 1st quarter. David Montgomery had the most carries with 15 carries for 93 yards with a touchdown. Jahmyr Gibbs had 45 yards rushing on 12 carries with a touchdown. The Lions running game did the scoring for most of the 1st half. The Lions had at one point a 24-7 lead at halftime. The turning point of the game came on a questionable decision by head coach Dan Campbell on a 4th down and 2 play early in the 3rd quarter on the 49ers 28-yard line. After that things happened for the 49ers. At the end of the game, the Lions had 442 total yards of offense. Brock Purdy didn't do so well in his first NFC championship game last year. In this year's reiteration of the event, he did alright. He hit 20 of 31 passes for 267 yards with a touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk for a 6-yard score that would eventually cut the Lions lead to a 24-17 score. Christian McCaffrey would have the game of his life as he rushed for 90 yards with two touchdown runs of 2 and 1 yard scores. He had 20 carries with a carry of 25 yards in the game. Elijah Mitchell scored the final 49ers touchdown on a run up the gut for a 3-yard score. It would be the score that gave the Niners the 34 points they need to win. Brock Purdy had five carries for 48 yards in the game. San Francisco had 413 total yards in the game. Another big momentum swing for the Niners was a pass play to Brandon Aiyuk that looked like an incompletion. The Lions defender Kindle Vildor bobbled the ball, Aiyuk collected it and recovered it. It was one of the more insane plays of the season for sure. A key to the game was obviously the 4th down stop but shutting down the Lions run game in the 2nd half was important as only one of the Lions five drives resulted in a score. Once the 49ers had momentum, it was damn near impossible to stop them. For the Lions, their impressive season ends in disappointment as they were 17 points and 30 minutes away from going to Super Bowl LVIII. They have some things to build on for next year though. For the 49ers, they will go to Super Bowl LVIII, their 2nd trip to the big game in five years and their 8th overall as a franchise. 

Next week: 
Detroit: go to a Red Wings game and chant Jared Goff. 
San Francisco: Super Bowl LVIII @ Kansas City

TW: 0-2; CV: 0-2

Records

Cardinal Viking:

2023: 
Week 1: 10-6

Week 2: 10-6

Week 3: 8-8

Week 4: 13-3
Week 5: 6-8

Week 6: 9-6

Week 7: 4-9

Week 8: 10-6

Week 9: 8-6
Week 10: 6-8

Week 11: 7-7

Week 12: 9-7

Week 13: 9-4

Week 14: 5-10

Week 15: 10-6

Week 16: 10-6

Week 17: 7-9

Week 18: 6-10

Super Wild Card Weekend: 3-3

Divisional Playoff: 3-1

Conference Championship: 0-2

Total: 153-131

2017: 167-89
2018: 156-98-2
2019: 151-104-1
2020: 163-92-1
2021: 167-104-1
2022: 157-112-2

My record: 

2023:
Week 1: 9-7

Week 2: 11-5
Week 3: 11-5

Week 4: 14-2

Week 5: 7-7

Week 6: 8-7

Week 7: 5-8

Week 8: 10-6

Week 9: 9-5
Week 10: 7-7

Week 11: 11-3

Week 12: 8-8

Week 13: 9-4

Week 14: 4-11

Week 15: 10-6

Week 16: 9-7

Week 17: 9-7

Week 18: 10-6

Super Wild Card Weekend: 4-2

Divisional Playoff: 2-2

Conference Championship: 0-2

Total: 167-117

2012: 164-90-2

2013: 162-92-1

2014: 172-83-1

2017: 164-92

2018: 156-98-2
2019: 161-94-1

2020: 167-88-1 

2021: 173-98-1
2022: 166-103-2

See you all on February 5th for the Super Bowl LVIII Pick post! Enjoy your week!

-Tom

NFL 2021 Conference Championship Recap

 Hello readers! Another week of National Football League action has come and gone yet again. The NFL's Final Four would be reduced two two as the champions of the AFC are the Cincinnati Bengals and the champions of the NFC are the Los Angeles Rams. How did both teams get there? That question will be answered in this week's recap post. Let's get to work!

Conference Championship Recap

Cincinnati 27, Kansas City 24 (F/OT): TW: Chiefs; CV: Bengals
Chiefs losing after going on a 21-3 lead means more than the Bengals keeping Joe Burrow clean for most of the game. Joe Burrow would play alright as he completed 23 of 38 passes for 250 yards with two touchdown passes to Ja'Marr Chase and Samaje Perine. He would get an interception in the game. Joe Mixon would go well in the ground game as he rushed for 21 carries for 88 yards with a 23-yard run being the longest in the game. Last week, the Bengals offensive line would allow nine sacks on Joe Burrow, in this game the Bengals would allow one sack. I think that was the big thing for the Bengals in this game. Patrick Mahomes was under siege a lot in this game, especially in the 2nd half. Mahomes would hit 26 of 39 passes for 275 yards with three touchdown passes but also had two passes picked off. One of the interceptions would come on a tipped pass that would land in the arms of Bengals Strong Safety Vonn Bell. Jerrick McKinnon would get some good yardage as he get 65 yards rushing on 12 carries. Clyde Edwards-Helaire would get 36 yards rushing on six carries. Turnovers kill you in the playoffs and the two turnovers killed the Chiefs. For the Bengals, their two-year turnaround ends up with a berth in the Super Bowl for the first time since Super Bowl XXIII. For the Chiefs, their high expectations season ends just short of the Super Bowl.

TW: 0-1; CV: 1-0

Next week:
Cincinnati: Super Bowl vs LA Rams
Kansas City: probably eat some BBQ or something

San Francisco 17, LA Rams 20: TW: Rams; CV: 49ers
The game was really ugly but the Rams are staying home for the Super Bowl. Jimmy Garoppolo was off and most of the throws that he made but he did the best he could. He would complete 16 of 30 passes for 232 yards with two touchdowns with an interception. Deebo Samuel would be a beast once again in this game as he rushed for 26 yards and caught four balls for 72 yards including a 44-yard touchdown. The biggest factor for me was the playcalling of Kyle Shanahan who didn't go for it on a 4th down and 1 late in the 4th quarter. Another would be a sure-fire drop that would've been an interception by Jaquiski Tartt. Matthew Stafford would play decent ball as he completed 31 of 45 passes for 337 yards with two touchdowns and had an interception. Cam Akers would rush for 48 yards on 13 carries. Cooper Kupp would have a solid game as he caught 11 balls for 142 yards with two touchdowns. The biggest factor for the Rams was the play by Cooper Kupp as he was a mismatch all game long. Some questionable decisions by Rams head coach Sean McVay would challenge a play that didn't really need to be challenged. It was on a down by contact situation and the Rams were down to their last timeout and the Rams would ultimately lose that challenge. Suffice to say, the Rams will get to host the Super Bowl. It'll be the consecutive year that an NFL team will host the Super Bowl while playing in it. For the 49ers, their season ends with a lot of questions as we've might've seen Jimmy Garoppolo's last game as a 49er. 

TW: 1-1; CV: 1-1

Next week:
San Francisco: go ride on a trolley car and watch a Warriors game.
LA Rams: Super Bowl vs Cincinnati

2021 Pick'em Records:

My record:

Week 1: 7-9
Week 2: 10-6
Week 3: 10-6
Week 4: 9-7
Week 5: 12-4
Week 6: 11-3
Week 7: 10-3
Week 8: 7-8
Week 9: 7-7
Week 10: 5-8-1
Week 11: 8-7
Week 12: 8-7
Week 13: 10-4
Week 14: 10-4
Week 15: 13-3
Week 16: 12-4
Week 17: 13-3
Week 18: 11-5

Total: 173-98-1

Super Wild Card Weekend: 6-0
Divisional Playoff: 0-4
Conference Championship: 1-1

Cardinal Viking's record:

Week 1: 6-10
Week 2: 12-4
Week 3: 13-3
Week 4: 10-6
Week 5: 10-6
Week 6: 12-2
Week 7: 10-3
Week 8: 7-8
Week 9: 8-6
Week 10: 5-8-1
Week 11: 10-5
Week 12: 9-6
Week 13: 7-7
Week 14: 9-5
Week 15: 10-6
Week 16: 11-5
Week 17: 10-6
Week 18: 8-8

Total: 167-104-1

Super Wild Card Weekend: 6-0
Divisional Playoff: 2-2
Conference Championship: 1-1

Previous Picking Records:

Cardinal Viking:

2017: 167-89
2018: 156-98-2
2019: 151-104-1
2020: 163-92-1

My record: 

2012: 164-90-2

2013: 162-92-1

2014: 172-83-1

2017: 164-92

2018: 156-98-2

2019: 161-94-1

2020: 167-88-1 

For the Super Bowl LVI Pick post I'm thinking of doing it sometime next week before the Super Bowl. See you all then!

-Tom