At the end of this NFL season, we at the Campus decided to offer some preview coverage and being the fan of football I am, introduce you to this season finale two-parter: preview coverage on the championship games, the teams, who to bandwagon, and next week, the Super Bowl preview.
The final four competitors? The National Football Conference champion will be determined in a divisional grudge match between two teams which 1-1 against each other in the regular season: The Washington Commanders and Philadelphia Eagles. The American Football Conference will feature a matchup familiar to longtime viewers: The Buffalo Bills vs. the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Washington Commanders vs. the Philadelphia Eagles will be a hard grudge match, with both teams having everything to play for, especially with this NFC Championship game serving as the tiebreaker for a regular season which saw the Eagles win the first game 26-18, and the Commanders take the second 36-33 in a hard fought win. The Eagles play with an explosive offense fueled by quarterback Jalen Hurts and former New York Giant Saquon Barkley, alongside strong defensive and offensive lines that produced a 14-3 record on the season.
With a point differential (amount of points scored points against) of 160, the winners of the NFC East represent a relative Goliath which has threatened to be superbowl-bound for multiple years in a row. The addition of aforementioned superstar Barkley has taken a strong running attack and turned it into a scoring threat on every play.
The Commanders, on the other hand, entered the season with absolutely no expectations. The team, sold by Dan Snyder, to a new ownership team led by Josh Harris in the past offseason, along with the replacement of the general manager, head coach, and coordinators, gave the team an entirely new identity in the offseason. Drafting of rookie QB Jayden Daniels gave the team a fresh face under center, donning the red and yellow number five. Finishing the season 4-13 last year, most analysts predicted the team to achieve six or seven wins this season.
The Commanders finished the season 12-5. More than that, Daniels has emerged as a superstar a year ahead of schedule. The Commanders offense features a supporting cast of rookies making names and league veterans turning the team around. On offense, Terry McLaurin entered his sixth season with his 11th quarterback in that timespan. On defense, league veteran Bobby Wagner was brought in to revitalize a record-breakingly awful defense from a year prior. Considering they’re making their first playoff run since Desert Storm, anything could happen.
The Eagles represent a statistically superior team in almost all metrics, with a longer recent record of success, including versus the Commanders, having gone 6-2 in the last eight matchups between the two teams. However, they split losses in the season, and the Commanders have only lost one game this season by more than a single score — and that was the first game of the season. From the Eagles themselves to beating the 15-2 Lions last week, it would be foolish to count the Commanders out until the clock hits zero: Almost all of their games are close contests, with over half being decided in the last two minutes, no matter the opponent.
Predictions? 55-45 in favor of the Philadelphia Eagles, but the Goliath’s David could be wearing the number 5. For full transparency, I’ll be wearing my Washington Football Team Taylor Heinecke jersey come gametime, 3 p.m. on Jan. 26.
The AFC matchup? The Buffalo Bills vs. the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Buffalo Bills ride with Josh Allen into the AFC championship game with a rerun of 2020’s matchup, though the circumstances are very different.
The Buffalo Bills theoretically entered a minor rebuilding season this year, though with Allen under center, they were never out of contention. One of the last two quarterbacks of the gunslinger lineage — the other being Jordan Love — the outcome of this game will rest largely on his shoulders. With a high-flying offense and respectable defense, the Bills present a threat to take the game into the last seconds or overtime, like they have in these two teams’ last few matchups, one of which the Bills took off them to give the Chiefs their first loss, in week 11.
The Kansas City Chiefs are the most fraudulent 15-2 team since the Vikings did it with a negative point differential. There is no better argument against the morality of DraftKings than the 2024 Kansas City Chiefs. Nearly every game the Chiefs have played in this season, they have received numerous penalty calls in their favor that have decided the outcome of games. With the referee crew for their last game throwing multiple flags — penalizing the Houston Texans when two of their players ran into each other, as unnecessary roughness against Patrick Mahomes, who the pair failed to make contact with — it can be left to anyone to decide whether the narrative is true or not. Either way, Mahomes is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, and that is indisputable. The Chiefs defense has picked up offensive slack all season, and when Mahomes is on the field, the Chiefs offense has the potential to score on anyone. While the Chiefs have continuously played down to opponents, they clearly have the potential to play superbowl-caliber football.
My projection for this game? If Allen and the Bills play disciplined football where the refs never have a chance to get involved, it should come down to turnovers and whether the Bills can get one or two stops. 50-50 Bills/Chiefs. Both teams have the potential to be better than the other, and without outside factors, it’ll come down to who wants it more. The game is at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 26.
Next week, the road to the Super Bowl.