You can move forward and pencil in the Bengals for a football game on 02/13/2022 at SoFi Stadium. Find me a game where Cincinnati walks out a loser in an AFC Title Game.
Well, with a low scoring Saturday affair, I’m hoping for the opposite for the Sunday games. It looks likely in the CBS game, but not as much in the NBC game. Speaking of Saturday games…
Tennessee became the 25th team, the 13th AFC team, the 2nd division champion and the first One Seed to fall out of the 2021-2022 NFL season. The Titans, as referenced are winless as the top seed, 0-3 all to AFC Central teams. Well, it’s the AFC North, but Baltimore was still an AFC Central team as the North hadn’t been a thing yet. With the Titans exit, the second division exits; the AFC South is finished.
Cincinnati is the first of four teams headed to the Championship week. It’s their third AFC Title Game in just over 40 years, and the first one on the road. The Bengals, who have yet to win 3 playoff games in a single postseason, have yet to lose a Conference Championship, at least in the Modern Era. They did win for the first time on the road, and with that, something will have to give.
Green Bay became the 26th team, the 13th NFC team, the 3rd division champion and the last One Seed to fall out of the 2021-2022 NFL season. The NFC North is the third division booted from the postseason. With this change, the road to SoFi will now go through Raymond James Stadium for the NFC.
San Francisco will be one of 3 teams headed into the NFL’s Final 3. By the time the 49ers take the field in the NFC Title Game, the team representing the AFC in the Super Bowl will be disclosed. With the Niners victory, there are 6 teams remaining in the 2021 NFL Season.
Predictions for Sunday:
I’m going with Tampa Bay for the win. Outright! I was planning to have Los Angeles cover, but if they were to do just enough to cover, they’d probably do enough to win, period. There is reason to believe that the Rams can win, but the stakes are so much higher. They’ve had success against TB12, and sure I goofed and flipped to Green Bay to avoid the trend. I did something similar last year with New Orleans. The Bucs are getting people back, they’re at home, and the Rams are going West to East playing a NOON Pacific game on short week. Finally, I think I have to go back to 01/20/2013 in terms of the last time I bet against Tom Brady & was correct.
It should be a great game at Arrowhead, and I can see either team blowing out the other. Either team can win a close game, too, but I’ll go with Kansas City for the win. What made me decide is emotion. Buffalo might be all emotional after their epic game against their “antagonist” in New England. First home game with a boatload of fans at Orchard Park (in a very long time), they took it to the Pats. The Chiefs dominated the Steelers as well, but it was just business as usual. Not a ton of people picked the Bills to win, and just about everyone thought Pittsburgh would lose a week after they thought the season was over for the Black N Gold. No emotions for the Chiefs. Just another home playoff victory. By the way, the road to the Super Bowl in the AFC now goes through Arrowhead for the 4th consecutive season