Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles are Super Bowl bound after Championship Sunday

The GIST: Super Bowl, set — the No. 1 Kansas City Chiefs and No. 2 Philadelphia Eagles punched tickets to New Orleans with yesterday’s respective American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC) Championship game wins. The stars really have never been closer.

AFC — Kansas City extends bid for third straight title with 32–29 win over the No. 2 Buffalo Bills: KC quarterback (QB) Patrick Mahomes used his arm and his feet to send his squad through to their fifth Super Bowl appearance in the last six seasons, running in a pair of postseason rushing touchdowns (TDs) to set the franchise’s playoff rushing TD record with seven. Casual.

• As for the Bills, QB Josh Allen did everything he could to keep his team in contention, making one of the most spectacular throws in playoff history in the fourth quarter, but tight end Dalton Kincaid couldn’t reel in the late-game heave.

• Though Allen and his Bills have topped KC and Mahomes four times in the regular season, this heartbreaking L marked Allen’s fourth straight postseason loss to the Chiefs. Oof.

NFC — Eagles set Conference Championship points record in 55–23 thrashing of No. 6 Washington Commanders: Running back (RB) Saquon Barkley set the tone for Philly, running in a 60-yard score on the Birds’ opening drive for the first of his three TDs on the day. Forget flying, the Eagles offense looked virtually unstoppable from start to finish.

• Despite gutsy playcalling and remarkable poise from rookie Washington QB Jayden Daniels, turnovers killed the Commanders: Washington fumbled the ball three times, resulting in 21 Philly points.

Early Super Bowl preview: Along with the prophetic logo colors, this year’s Super Bowl boasts a whole lot of recent history. KC’s three-peat quest started with a hotly contested three-point Super Bowl LVII (57) win against, you guessed it, the Eagles.

• Now, with a shot at becoming the first team to win three straight titles, KC will have to contend with the high-flying Birds once more. February 9th can’t come soon enough.