Championship Weekend Recap

Well, we have our match up set for Super Bowl LII. The New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles will meet in Minnesota on February 4, a re-match of the famous game where Tom Brady and Bill Belichick bested Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid. This time many of the players are different, but fans are hyped for the match up.

And, of course, it's the two No. 1 seeds in the Super Bowl. That shouldn't be a surprise, but it is. Some might have predicted that outcome, but many did not. (In fact, the NFL accidentally released a promo for the Super Bowl over the weekend featuring the Patriots and Vikings.) But that's the match up we have, and we'll have plenty of time to dissect that over the next two weeks. (You have to feel bad for the pre-game team trying to find fresh stories on the Patriots to fill 12 hours of hype on game day...)

But for now, let's consider how we got there by looking back at yesterday's games.

AFC Championship:
Not to toot my own horn, but I predicted a 24-20 Patriots win and the score was 24-20 Patriots. I thought the Jaguars were a nice story, and that would make it close, but that the Patriots were too much and would get it done in the end. And that is pretty much what we saw.

Brady's hand injury wasn't that severe, but the Patriots looked out of sorts for three quarters. Losing Rob Gronkowski certainly didn't help. The Jaguars entered the Fourth Quarter and quickly were up 20-10. Later in the period, Dion Lewis fumbled, and it seemed like the Jaguars would be able to make it hold up.

But the team's offense failed them at the wrong time, as did the defense. You could quibble about some of the calls, but in the end the Patriots executed when they had to. Danny Amendola was great, catching seven passes for 84 yards and two TDs to help the Patriots post 14 fourth quarter points and pull off the win. And, of course, Brady was pretty good, too, as you'd expect.

What shouldn't be lost is the stride the Jaguars have made, especially Blake Bortles. Bortles, who used to be somewhat of a punch line, really stepped up his game in the playoffs. He was solid and impressive in all three playoff games, including a turnover free day in New England. It just wasn't quite enough. But if this team's core stays together, I think they could be a contender in the league for quite some time.

NFC Championship:
Well, if I tooted my own horn a bit with the AFC prediction, I was dead wrong here. My guess is I wasn't alone. I thought the Vikings would win and that they were the better team. They didn't and they aren't. The Eagles were the No.1 Seed for a reason, and people seemed to forget that a bit in the playoffs because of the Carson Wentz injury. The Eagles were home underdogs in the Divisional Round against the Falcons, and they were underdogs again against the Vikings. But they won both games and advanced to the Super Bowl.

But it didn't look great at the start. The Vikings took the opening kick off down the field and scored a touchdown to move ahead 7-0 to start the game. But that was it. Something flipped and the Vikings offense and defense could not deliver.

More importantly, Nick Foles showed his mettle as a QB. He was a big question mark heading into the game, but he went for 352 yards and three touchdowns, and looked like a poised leader in the Eagles' victory.

And now the Eagles have a chance to avenge the Super Bowl loss from 13 years ago as they face off against the Patriots. In a season as crazy as this one has been, you have to believe they have a chance to make it happen.