The home teams both scored wins in the AFC and NFC championship games on Sunday, setting the stage for Super Bowl 54 in Miami on Sunday, February 2nd.
In the AFC championship, Patrick Mahomes tossed three touchdown passes rallying the Kansas City Chiefs past the Tennessee Titans 35-24 at Arrowhead Stadium. Tennessee had taken a 17-7 first quarter lead on a Derrick Henry four yard touchdown run, and a short touchdown pass from quarterback Ryan Tannehill to tackle eligible Dennis Kelly for a score. But Mahomes hit Tyreek Hill for his second TD catch of the day on a 20 yard connection with four minutes left in the second quarter, and then the quarterback scrambled up the left sideline for a 27 TD run breaking two tackles at the goal line with 23 seconds left in the half to give the Chiefs the lead for good.
Damien Williams scored on a three yard run for the only scoring of the third quarter for Kansas City, and the hosts put it away when Mahomes hit Sammy Watkins on a 60 yard bomb with 7:30 left in the game. The Chiefs (14-4) will be making their first Super Bowl appearance since 1969. Tennessee finishes their season at 11-8 under former Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel. The sixth seeded Titans had upset New England and top seed Baltimore on the road to reach the conference title game.
In the NFC championship game, the San Francisco 49ers put together one of the best 30 minutes of football in conference title game history, bolting out to a 27-0 halftime lead and cruising to a 37-20 win over the Green Bay Packers at Levi’s Stadium.
Raheem Mostert had a huge game in the win for San Francisco, opening the scoring with a 36 yard scoring run in the first quarter. Robbie Gould added a 54 yard field goal to make it 10-0. Mostert added touchdown runs of nine and 18 yards in the second quarter, wedged around another Gould field goal to give the 49ers the huge halftime lead.
Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers hit Aaron Jones for a nine yard touchdown to make it 27-7, before Mostert went 22 yards for his fourth score of the day. Jones scored again for the Packers on a one yard run, and then the visitors would cut it to 14 in the fourth when Rodgers hit Jace Sternbeger for an eight yard connection with still 8:21 left. Gould iced the game with his third field goal of 42 yards with 3:36 remaining. Mostert finished the game with 29 rushes for 220 yards as San Francisco (15-3) advances to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2012. Former New England backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo only threw the ball eight times with six completions for 77 yards, as the 49ers dominated the ground game churning out 285 yards. Rodgers passed for 326 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions as Green Bay ended their season at 14-4.
Super Bowl 54 from Hard Rock Stadium is scheduled for a scheduled kickoff time of 6:37 on Sunday, February 2nd on Fox TV.
