Welcome to the Pickswise NFL Conference Championship betting guide! The race to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy is in sharp focus now with each conference fielding heavyweight contenders in Sunday’s Super Bowl or bust showdowns.
In the AFC, we have a rematch of last season’s game between defending conference champions the Cincinnati Bengals and the Kansas City Chiefs (6:30pm ET, CBS). The Chiefs have reached this stage for an incredible 5th straight year. They have a 2-2 record in those games after the 27-24' loss to the Bengals last year, and all eyes are on Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, who picked up an ankle injury in last week’s win over the Jaguars. The Bengals won by the same score in the teams’ regular-season meeting and have won their last 3 games against KC, although Andy Reid’s team held a sizeable lead in each of those games.
The NFC representative in the Super Bowl will be known earlier on Sunday evening as the 49ers take on the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field (3:oopm ET, FOX). The Eagles were the dominant force in the conference for much of the first half of the season, but the 49ers came on strong in the second half of the year after acquiring RB Christian McCaffrey and with rookie QB Brock Purdy impressing everyone with his poise.
The 49ers reached this stage last season, losing 20-17 to eventual Super Bowl winners the Los Angeles Rams, while the Eagles were most recently in this game 5 years ago, beating the Vikings 38-7 on their way to a Super Bowl success.