A united nation is rooting for these 2 teams today

The final four are set. And never before has an entire nation been more united in who they are rooting for to make the Super Bowl than today.

The Buffalo Bills and the Washington Commanders.

Sorry Chiefs and Eagles fans, it’s not us, it’s you.

And we are never, ever, ever, getting back together. (And there is what I hope will be my only Taylor Swift reference for the rest of my life.)

When it comes to predicting the NFL playoffs, I’m not off to a great start, but at least I’m above .500 at 6-4.

Wild Card round – 4-2

Divisional round – 2-2

Here’s where it gets odd though. I’m a perfect 5-0 in the AFC playoffs and a miserable 1-4 for the NFC games.

I blame the Commanders and Eagles, of course.

But now I have a dilemma.

After correctly picking Washington to beat Tampa Bay, I’m on a four-game losing streak in the NFC. It didn’t help that the NFC’s top two teams (by record) both laid an egg in their first games.

But did they have to let both NFC East teams make it to the NFC title game?

Worse still, the Commanders’ fanbase decided to ignore my correct pick in their favor the week before to jump on my pick for them to lose to the Lions.

They’re almost as bad as Eagles’ fans.

I said “almost”, people.

At least the Eagles’ folk knew better than to poke the bear. I had to tell the Washington gang that if they didn’t chill out, I’d pick them to win today.

They haven’t said a word since.

Here’s my picks for today’s title games:

Washington at Philadelphia

2 p.m. / FOX

The Eagles can’t keep getting every break in the book to go their way, can they? In a just world they lose both of their playoff games this year.

This just ain’t a just world, baby.

Philadelphia does not have a passing game. If not for three big runs, that would have been their undoing last week.

So, it will come down to Dan Quinn’s defense today.

If they can contain Saquon Barkley, and make Jalen Hurts a pocket passer, they have a chance.

Washington will need to force turnovers, like they did against Detroit. They’ll also need Jayden Daniels to keep channeling whatever he’s been channeling these last two weeks.

The other dilemma to making this pick?

If the Eagles lose, Kellen Moore might be the Cowboys’ next head coach this week.

Look, there are enough former Cowboys players and coaches to excuse this pick.

Commanders 31, Eagles 24

Buffalo at Kansas City

5:30 p.m. / CBS

Hate ’em as much as you want, but the Chiefs turn it up when the playoffs begin.

That’s why they are gunning for their third straight Lombardi Trophy.

Kansas City has looked shaky this entire year. They have won some games – by hook or by crook – that they probably shouldn’t have.

They needed a lot of help to beat back the Texans last week for sure.

So, this just might be the year for Josh Allen to break through.

Allen has led the Bills to the AFC Championship for the second time. That’s twice as many conference title appearances as Dak Prescott.

I’m just saying…

The last time was back at the end of the 2020 season when the Chiefs won by 14.

Since then, the teams have met twice in the divisional round, with Kansas City winning both. Including that insane game that ended the 2021 season for Buffalo.

After Allen had seemingly won the game with a touchdown pass with 13 seconds left, Patrick Mahomes somehow got the Chiefs into position for a game-tying field goal before winning in overtime.

Give me that Super Bowl XXVI rematch, baby.

This year, Allen and the Bills break through. No matter how many flags the refs throw.

Bills 35, Chiefs 21

Cowboys NFC Championship Record

Dallas is 8-8 all-time when they have reached the NFC Conference championship game, dating back to their first appearance in 1966 against the Packers.

Back then, it was called the NFL Championship game as that was the first year the NFL and AFL champions would meet for the Professional Football World Championship.

A couple of years later we called that the Super Bowl.

What can I say, we weren’t at our A-Game level in marketing sports back in the day.

Of course, the last time Dallas won a conference title was also the last time they got to play for one. The Cowboys beat the Packers in 1995 and went on to win the Super Bowl two weeks later.

Of those 16 games, only six were played in Dallas.

Just one, 1966, was at the Cotton Bowl and the other five at Texas Stadium.

Dallas is 4-2 in those games with a 4-6 record when playing on the road. Oddly enough, Dallas is 0-3 against their NFC East rivals in the NFC Championship game.

They’ve lost once to the Eagles, twice to the Redskins (that is not a typo), and have never played the Giants for a trip to the Super Bowl.