NFL Championship Weekend Recap

NFL Championship weekend shocked fans around the league as the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers comeback against the Detroit Lions.

The Kansas City Chiefs will represent the AFC in the Super Bowl for the fourth time in five years, and will face off against the San Francisco 49ers who will make their first appearance in the Super Bowl since they played the Chiefs back in 2020. On the way to this highly anticipated Super Bowl rematch from four years ago both teams had to battle their way through competitive AFC and NFC championship games. 

The Chiefs came into the AFC championship game with two objectives, slow down Ravens’ quarterback, MVP front runner Lamar Jackson, and get the ball to Pacheco, Rice, and Kelce. Mahomes did his thing in the first half, but it was not Mahomes who won this game for the Chiefs. Rather the Chiefs' defense dominated the Ravens’ offense and shut down the number one rushing offense in the league, holding them to a mere 10 points and 81 yards rushing. Surprisingly, the Ravens' game plan offensively was to pass the ball, as they only ran the ball 16 times, about half of their season average of 31.5 per game, and only handed the ball off to running backs six times. Lamar struggled to find open receivers, as the Chiefs secondary was in tight coverage for most of the game, but Lamar continued to find rookie Zay Flowers who was the only bright spot for the Ravens’ offense with  5 receptions for 115 yards and a touchdown. The Ravens’ defense played incredibly well after the first two drives, shutting out the Chiefs in the second half but it was not enough. Turnovers were one of the biggest differentiators in this game as Mahomes and the Chiefs kept a zero on the stat sheet, but the Ravens had three, two fumbles and one interception. Lamar had a fumble, and the other two turnovers were costly to the Ravens as they were both within the Redzone. The Chiefs came into the game with two objectives, and their 17-10 win in Baltimore was a near-perfect execution of their game plan.

The latter of the two championship games featured the Detroit Lions at the San Francisco 49ers. The Lions came out of the gate hot, and it seemed there was no stopping this Lions offense. The Lions were up 24-7 at halftime with three rushing touchdowns to the 49ers one from star running back Christian McCaffrey. It looked grim for the 49ers, but head coach Kyle Shanahan had other plans. The 49ers came out of halftime looking like the team they have been all season, scoring 17 straight points to tie the game. Lions head coach Dan Campbell called a gutsy 4th and 2 while in field goal range which failed and swung the momentum to the Niners. After a Jake Moody field goal early in the fourth quarter, the 49ers had their first lead, 27-24. They had crawled their way back from down 17, but the game was not over. After another rushing touchdown for the 49ers, they were up 34-24. It started to look like do or die for the Detroit Lions. The Lions were driving when all of the sudden it was 4th and 3 from the 49ers 30. Dan Campbell, who has been the gutsiest coach in the league, decided to go for it, but this was the play where Campbell should have sucked up his pride and sent the kicking unit out there. The play failed and summed up this massive blown playoff lead. This blown lead should remind NFL fans of the Super Bowl when the Falcons blew a 28-3 lead. The Lions made it so close to making it to the big game for the first time in franchise history, but they were sent home by a gut-wrenching coaching mistake, losing 34-31. 

I predict a 49ers 28-24 win with Christian McCaffrey named Super Bowl MVP. Also watch out for the possibility of the first defensive Super Bowl MVP since Von Miller in Super Bowl 50, with either Nick Bosa or Fred Warner winning the award. Here are other Middlesex Super Bowl 58 predictions: Quinn Falvey-Chiefs 27-21 Mahomes MVP, Armaan Idrees-49ers 24-17 Aiyuk MVP, Lach Mccaghren-49ers 27-24 McCaffrey MVP, Caelen Meade-49ers 31-28 McCaffrey MVP, Matt Cloutier Chiefs 20-16 Mahomes MVP. 

James Millett