This Sunday, the Washington Commanders will play the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship followed by the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship.
Last season, there were plenty of fascinating stories surrounding Conference Championship Weekend. The Detroit Lions faced the San Francisco 49ers for a chance to advance to the team’s first Super Bowl. We also got to see if Lamar Jackson could shake off the playoff jitters and propel the Baltimore Ravens over the Kansas City Chiefs. Though the Super Bowl matchup ended up being Chiefs-49ers, these storylines were still talked about ad nauseam in the week leading up to Championship Sunday.
This year, we have three new teams and one behemoth in the reigning Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs. This leaves us with many questions like can the Bills get over the postseason hump, and who will emerge the winner of the Eagles-Commanders season series?
Let’s take a look at the five biggest storylines heading into the AFC Championship and the NFC Championship.
📰 Table Of Contents
#5 What Super Bowl matchup does the world want?
If you talk to NFL fans (and even some non-NFL fans), they’ll probably tell you that they are sick of seeing the Kansas City Chiefs win. While they were once underdogs, they have shaken off that label and become a loathsomely successful dynasty.
The Philadelphia Eagles are not nearly as despised as the Chiefs outside of the NFC East. Still, they’re a franchise that has experienced a lot of winning in recent years with a Lombardi Trophy and two Super Bowl appearances since the start of the 2017-18 season.
Then you have the Buffalo Bills and the Washington Commanders. The Bills have never won a Super Bowl despite making it to the big game in four straight seasons from 1991 to 1994. Though Washington has three Super Bowl wins under its belt, the last time they made it to the big game was 1992.
It sounds like people will not be thrilled if the Eagles and Chiefs face off on February 9th in a rematch of Super Bowl LVII.
If either Washington or Buffalo makes the Super Bowl while the other team doesn’t, that will give football fans a “lovable loser” to root for. If the Commanders face the Chiefs, the world will pull for Washington. If the Bills face the Eagles, most fans will probably end up cheering for Buffalo because they’ve never won a Super Bowl.
It’s no secret that people love rooting for underdogs, and both the Bills and Commanders are major underdogs coming into Championship Weekend. Therefore, a Bills-Commanders Super Bowl is the matchup that most of the world is hoping for.
#4 Jayden Daniels’ ascension into the top-five quarterback conversation
I recently said that Commanders rookie QB Jayden Daniels was the top-ranked quarterback right now in the playoffs based on the way he has performed this postseason, and I stand by that statement. The statistics back up this claim since Daniels leads all remaining QBs in passing yards, passing yards per game, QBR, passing touchdowns, and quarterback rating.
On top of that, Daniels is simply fun to watch. He makes even the most difficult plays look easy all while appearing completely uninterested in the game. It’s also worth noting that Daniels’ offense leads all playoff teams in points with 68 through two games. Any time you turn on the TV, you can expect Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders to score plenty of touchdowns.
In NFL circles, there has been an ongoing discussion for several years about who is the best quarterback in the NFL. Many say it’s Patrick Mahomes because he has won three Super Bowls. Some make a case for Josh Allen, who has the most total touchdowns scored by a quarterback since 2019 (244). Lamar Jackson has been named MVP twice and led the league in passer rating this year. We also can’t forget Joe Burrow, the NFL’s passing touchdown and passing yards leader during the 2024-25 campaign.
Mahomes, Allen, Jackson, and Burrow have cemented themselves as the four best QBs in the NFL currently. There have been numerous people shuffled in and out of that fifth spot. Guys like Dallas’ Dak Prescott, Detroit’s Jared Goff, Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield, and Los Angeles’ Justin Herbert have all been mentioned in those top quarterback conversations, but each one of those guys has failed to either make it to or win a Super Bowl.
Enter Jayden Daniels, who is having arguably the best rookie season ever for a QB. If the former Heisman Trophy winner can lead the Commanders to a Super Bowl in his first year, then he’ll become the first quarterback ever to start in the big game as a rookie. If Daniels can reach the Super Bowl or even just put up big numbers in the NFC Championship Game, then he will secure that fifth spot on the QB list and move into the tier of elite quarterbacks we’ll watch for years to come.
#3 Eagles-Commanders III for a spot in Super Bowl LIX
The Commanders and Eagles have played each other 182 times since this rivalry began back in 1934, but the 183rd matchup between Washinton and Philly will be the most important because the winner will move on to the Super Bowl.
Though the Eagles have gained plenty of momentum in this rivalry in the last few years, the Commanders still lead the series with a record of 90-86-6. One of those victories came in the 1991 postseason when Washington beat Philadelphia 20-6 to advance to the Divisional Round of the playoffs. That game was obviously significant, but the Commanders lost to the San Francisco 49ers the next week, so it ended up being somewhat inconsequential. This time, the winner will be immortalized in the annals of NFL history as one of the few teams to reach the Super Bowl.
Every rivalry in the NFL is intense and heated, but some are more substantial than others. No offense to the AFC South, but I would not consider a divisional rivalry like the Houston Texans vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars to have the same level of competitiveness as Eagles-Commanders, a rivalry that has been played for 91 years.
Part of what makes this matchup so serious is the history between these two squads. This feud features the “Body Bag Game,” where Washington lost six players to injury in a single game. The Commanders experienced so many injuries in that contest that Eagles defensive back William Frizzell asked the Washington bench, “You need any more body bags?” There was also the Monday Night Massacre in 2010 when the Eagles downed the Commanders 59-28. Even earlier this season, Washington and Philly split the series one game apiece, so this weekend will be for bragging rights as well as a trip to the Super Bowl.
All of the history will be tossed out the window this Sunday. There have been many instances where a team lost to an opponent twice during the regular season but got revenge in the playoffs. Most recently, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the New Orleans Saints in the 2021 postseason after losing to them twice during the regular season. Also, the Giants lost to the Dallas Cowboys twice in 2007 before defeating them in the Divisional Round of the playoffs that year.
Whoever wins this game will be able to hold it over the loser’s head for the rest of time.
#2 Kansas City’s quest for a three-peat
There have only been two times in NFL history that a franchise has won three straight championships. The Green Bay Packers did it in 1929, 1930, and 1931. The Packers then accomplished this feat years later under head coach Vince Lombardi by winning the NFL championship from 1965 to 1967. However, the first title in that run came before the Super Bowl was created, meaning we have never seen a team win three straight Super Bowls.
The Kansas City Chiefs are on the brink of history. If they manage to reach a third straight Super Bowl, they will become just the fourth franchise to appear in the big game three years in a row. The other teams to do it are the Miami Dolphins, the New England Patriots, and the Buffalo Bills.
The Chiefs are already considered a dynasty because they have won three Super Bowls over the last five years. But if they can pull off the three-peat, then they will immediately be catapulted into the discussion of the greatest dynasty in NFL history.
Also, if Patrick Mahomes can pull off the win in the AFC Championship and the big game, then he will elevate his résumé in the G.O.A.T. conversation because he will have done something that Tom Brady had never done.
Even if the Chiefs lose this weekend or lose in the Super Bowl, their excellence is undeniable. With seven straight AFC Championship appearances, KC shows no signs of slowing down or falling off any time soon. We are witnessing greatness right now, and everybody wants to see if the Chiefs can be the first team to win three Super Bowls in a row.
Love them or hate them, you’re going to watch to see if they pull off the three-peat.
#1 Can Josh Allen finally beat Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs?
Whenever the Bills play the Chiefs, the dialogue doesn’t focus on the teams. Rather, fans highlight the matchup between Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. Everybody likes to mention that Allen is 0-3 against Mahomes in the playoffs, but that is a ridiculous way to compare the two in my opinion.
For one thing, Josh Allen’s stats are arguably as good as Mahomes’ when they have played. In regular season matchups, Allen has more total touchdowns and fewer turnovers than Mahomes. They’re even closer in the playoffs. Allen and Mahomes have the same number of total touchdowns (nine), but Allen has an interception while Mahomes has none.
The other reason why it’s silly to compare the two is because they don’t actually step foot on the field of play at the same time. Patrick Mahomes didn’t force Josh Allen to throw that interception in the playoffs, the Chiefs’ defense caused that turnover!
This all stems from the classic argument that wins are a quarterback stat, a line of thinking that I do not subscribe to. If wins are a quarterback stat, then Trent Dilfer is a better quarterback than Dan Marino by that logic.
Unfortunately, we live in a world where everybody likes to simplify things. Instead of asking, “Can the Bills beat the Chiefs in the playoffs?” people wonder if Josh Allen can beat Patrick Mahomes. I hate that line of thinking, but that is the biggest question NFL fans will be asking headed into Championship Weekend.
If Josh Allen throws for 400 yards and four touchdowns, but the Bills lose, the conversation on Monday will be “Josh Allen still hasn’t beaten Patrick Mahomes in the postseason.”
Though I am more interested in finding out if the Bills can upset the Chiefs, everybody tuning in to the AFC Championship will be paying attention to the quarterback matchup, even though Mahomes and Allen don’t directly impact each other’s on-field performance.