The Conference Championship games Sunday were a mixed bag. The NFC Championship was a blowout, with the Eagles cruising to an easy 31-7 win over San Francisco. The odds of going all the way are extremely low with a quarterback named Mr. Irrelevant, but they are impossible when your hopes lie in the hands of a fourth-stringer.
That was the story for the Niners. Their third-string quarterback Brock Purdy was playing great, winning all seven of the games he started after the injury to Jimmy Garafolo. But when he got hurt in the first quarter in Philly, that was the end of the suspense. Purdy was a rookie selected with the final pick in the 2022 draft.
The AFC title game went down to the final seconds. The Chiefs beat the Bengals on a 45-yard clutch field goal by Harrison Barker. The winning field goal was set up by one of the most costly bone-headed plays you could imagine.
Cincinnati’s Joseph Ossai was called for unnecessary roughness on a late hit on Patrick Mahomes. That extra 15 yards made the game-winner much easier for Barker, and the Chiefs are off to Arizona thanks to the 23-20 win.
Major kudos to Cincy coach Zac Taylor, who refused to call out his player’s incredibly stupid play that may have cost the Bengals a chance to return to the Super Bowl.
”We’re not going to make it about one play,” Taylor told CBS Sports. “There were plenty of plays that we left out on the field today that could have put us in a better position. It’s tough. One play. Didn’t come down to that.”
On Sunday night, the Empire State Building lit up in green to honor the Eagle’s big win. And boy, were New Yorkers ticked off. The Eagles are not only their rival; they knocked the Giants out of the playoffs last weekend.
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