NFL News & Notes Conference Championship

NFL News, Injuries, and Lineup Notes for Conference Championship.

Each day, this column will be updated to provide a recap for all NFL news. Enjoy all the alerts for injuries and lineup confirmations.

Statistics are referenced from here and here.

No. 4 Cincinnati Bengals @ No. 2 Kansas City Chiefs

Line: KC -7.5 | Implied Total: 54.5

We’ve now advanced to the final four teams with both the AFC and NFC Conference Championship games to be played on Sunday. To kickoff the festivities, the underdog Bengals are slated to travel to Kansas City, who hosts their fourth straight AFC Championship game.

The Bengals are heavy road underdogs in this contest but did beat the Chiefs by a score of 34–31 in Week 17. It required a herculean effort from Joe Burrow (446 passing yards) and Ja’Marr Chase (266 receiving yards), but there is some familiarity and the Bengals have shown the ability to overcome their talent “disadvantage”.

The Chiefs on the other hand, beat the Buffalo Bills in an absolute thriller in one of the best postseason games in NFL history. They look entirely back to championship form and it won’t lead to an easy task for the Bengals to defend the trio of Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Tyreek Hill.

Stats:

Injuries:

CIN

• N/A

KC

• S Tyrann Mathieu (concussion) expected to play in Conference Championship
• RB Darrel Williams (toe) listed questionable for Conference Championship

No. 6 San Francisco 49ers @ No. 4 Los Angeles Rams

Line: LA -3.5 | Implied Total: 45.5

The NFC side of the bracket includes two NFC West divisional foes duking it out for the third time this season in the “nighter” game. The 49ers are slated to travel to SoFi Stadium as the visiting team after upsetting the №. 1 seed Green Bay Packers, and the Rams are the top-seeded team remaining after knocking off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

These two teams have met twice this season, with the 49ers coming out on top in both contests. The 49ers have dominated the Rams in their matchups in recent years — they’re 6–0 against the Rams, including a thrilling comeback victory in Week 18 that required overtime.

These teams know each other well and the betting markets expect this game to be lower scoring and closer than the Chiefs vs. Bengals contest.

Stats:

Injuries:

SF

• RB Elijah Mitchell (knee) not listed on injury report for Conference Championship
• RB Jeff Wilson (ankle) questionable for Conference Championship
• LT Trent Williams (ankle) questionable for Conference Championship

LA

• LT Andrew Whitworth (knee) will play in Conference Championship