Conference Championship matchups
I maintain that Conference Championships Sunday is the most exciting day of the NFL season. The stakes, intensity, rivalries, and suspense often render the Super Bowl anticlimactic.
This year’s AFC Championship game showcases a clash between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens, while the NFC Championship pits the Detroit Lions against the San Francisco 49ers.
My team is the Philadelphia Eagles. But, when this season kicked off, we were still reeling from winning last year’s NFC Conference Championship, only to lose a thrilling heartbreaker to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
Nonetheless, a promising start had us thinking the Eagles were destined to return to the Super Bowl, even more so than the Chiefs. Yet the Eagles ended up getting eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. They lost in humiliating fashion to the Brady-less Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Wild Card game 32-9. But enough about us.
My Championship picks
Naturally, as an Eagles fan, I don’t have a dog in the AFC or NFC fight. All the same, it behooves any real NFL fan to have a rooting interest.
So, I am picking the Ravens to defeat the Chiefs in the AFC game. And, yes, I am doing so because I want to see the Ravens avenge our loss in last year’s Super Bowl.
Okay, I also want to see the Chiefs lose. Because that would spare us two weeks of Super Bowl hype featuring Taylor and her Swifties instead of the coaches and players.
I am picking the Lions to defeat the 49ers in the NFC game. And, yes, I am doing so for the same reason everyone rooted for the hapless Chicago Cubs for decades.
I’d like to see the Lions finally win their first Championship for a berth to the Super Bowl. Because the Lions are one of only four teams that have never even made it to the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl
Of course, I will have no rooting interest in the Ravens if/once they defeat the Chiefs in the Championship game. Moreover, I am loath to see Ravens coach John Harbaugh emulate his little brother John, who just coached Michigan to a CFP Championship. Because that would make the Harbaugh brothers’ egos even bigger and more insufferable than the Kelces’.
Therefore, I look forward to cheering for the Lions to defeat whichever team they face in the Super Bowl.
So here’s to the Ravens and Lions advancing to Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, with the storied Lions winning their first-ever Super Bowl title. Hey, hope springs eternal. Look at the Cubs.