The matchup for Super Bowl LIV is set, and football fans should rejoice.
With all due respect to the Tennessee Titans and Green Bay Packers, the clash between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers set for two weeks from Sunday in Miami is the best outcome NFL fans (except those of this weekend’s losers, of course) could’ve hoped for.
Patrick Mahomes versus a ferocious 49ers defensive front-seven, Raheem Mostert and a prolific Niners ground game against the team that finally stopped Derrick Henry, and Andy Reid head-to-head with Kyle Shanahan as two great offensive minds duel for the Lombardi Trophy.
We’ll have plenty of time to break down the first Super Bowl of the decade over the next 13 days, but let’s first take look at what went down in the AFC and NFC title games.
Here are four takeaways from NFL conference championship Sunday:
PATRICK MAHOMES PLAYING AT MVP LEVEL
The Chiefs are headed to the franchise’s first Super Bowl in 50 years and they’ll go to Miami led by the best football player on the planet.
Mahomes did it all in Sunday afternoon’s 35-24 AFC title win over the Titans, throwing for 294 yards and three touchdowns, adding another spectacular rushing score and 53 yards on the ground — the most of any K.C. player.
We all knew what Mahomes was capable of with his arm and — like we’ve seen over two full NFL seasons of Mahomes — the 24-year-old made some truly jaw-dropping throws against the Titans’ defence in this game, with playmakers like Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Damien Williams and Sammy Watkins all on the receiving end.
But the added wrinkle of Mahomes making plays on the ground means the 2018 MVP is even more lethal. His 106 yards rushing over the last two playoff games is the most by No. 15 over a two-game span in his NFL career and it’s been a big factor in each of the Chiefs’ victories.
K.C. has been outscored 31-7 in the first quarter in this post-season so far, but never has it felt like these Chiefs were out of it.
And with Mahomes under centre, they never are.
TITANS FORCED OUT OF THEIR COMFORT ZONE
For the first 23 minutes, the AFC title game went exactly to script for head coach Mike Vrabel and the Titans.
Tennessee took a 17-7 lead with 6:39 left in the second quarter on a Dennis Kelly touchdown reception after a 15-play, 74-yard drive that took more than nine minutes of time off the clock as Mahomes watched on the sideline. Derrick Henry had run the ball well in the first half, Ryan Tannehill and the play-action passing game had been effective, and the defence had contained Mahomes.
But then the Chiefs scored a quick touchdown, forced a Titans three-and-out and put up another TD before the end of the half for K.C.’s first lead of the game. Tennessee would never get back out in front.
And it was in the third quarter, a frame in which Vrabel’s team has dominated in these playoffs, where the Titans lost the game.
Tennessee ran just six plays and had the ball for only 4:03. Henry rushed on three of those six plays for seven yards and never ran the ball again in the game, a remarkable fact considering the success Henry’s found in the second half over the last four games.
By the time the Titans next got the ball back, the third quarter had ended and the Chiefs led 28-17. Tennessee’s offence was forced to abandon the run in hopes Tannehill could get his team back in the game using his arm. It didn’t happen.
The Titans’ regular-season turnaround and Cinderella run to Sunday’s AFC title game was one of the best stories of the NFL season, led by great coaching on the part of Vrabel and his staff, a comeback-player-of-the-year effort from Tannehill, an unprecedented playoff performance from Henry, and a brand of physical, old-school football that was easy to love.
But in the end, the Titans were forced to abandon what got them this far, and ultimately it was their undoing.
49ERS RIDE DOMINANT GROUND GAME, GREAT DEFENCE TO MIAMI
When your starting quarterback only completes six of eight passes for 77 yards in the entirety of an NFC championship game, it means one of two things: He left the game injured or he didn’t need to throw more than eight times.
Thankfully for the 49ers, Jimmy Garoppolo was under centre all game long, handing the ball off 42 times to the likes of Raheem Mostert and Deebo Samuel as San Francisco diced up the Packers defence for 287 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Mostert accounted for 220 of those yards and all four scores.
On the other side of the ball, the 49ers’ defence forced three turnovers, sacked Aaron Rodgers three times and were all over the field making plays –especially in the first half — with the speed and physicality we’ve all come to expect from Robert Saleh’s defence.
Given their Super Bowl LIV opponent, we’d expect Jimmy G. will have to be more involved on Feb. 2, but Kyle Shanahan’s team has proven it can win with great defence and a dominant run game — and both will be the key in the Niners’ quest to hoist the Lombardi Trophy in Miami in two weeks’ time.
TERRIBLE FIRST HALF DOOMS THE PACKERS
It couldn’t have gone much worse for Green Bay in the first 30 minutes against the 49ers in San Francisco.
Not only did a pair of Rodgers turnovers lead to 14 San Francisco points, but the Packers defence could not stop the run to save their playoff lives. Mostert carried the ball 14 times in the first two quarters for 160 yards and three touchdowns, averaging a whopping 11.4 yards per carry.
When it was all said and done, the Packers went to the locker room at half-time trailing by 27 points — a deficit which proved too much to overcome despite outscoring the 49ers 20-10 in the second half.
The defeat means an impressive 14-win first campaign under rookie head coach Matt Lafleur ends with the team’s second embarrassing loss at the hands of the Niners and the Packers being outscored 57-27 over the final six quarters of their season.
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