NFL CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP PREDICTIONS

No.5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ No.1 Green Bay Packers

Sunday, 2:05 p.m. CT on Fox

Tom Brady and the Bucs travel to frigid Lambeau field to face Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. The Bucs pulled out a win last week against the Saints and this sets up an all-time great quarterback matchup. Tom Brady vs Aaron Rodgers is obviously going to get all the attention, but there’s so much more to this game. Tampa Bay destroyed Green Bay in week 6 38-10, and in that game the Bucs defense was the story forcing turnovers and creating pressure making Rodgers uncomfortable. The Packers since then have gotten their act together and their defense is coming around to match their explosive offense. For the Bucs, they will not have Antonio Brown, and Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are also banged up. The Bucs however, do get Vita Vea back to help their already dominant run defense. I feel like this game is going to come down to whether or not the Bucs can get to Rodgers. The Packers defense should slow down Tampa Bay to some degree, but can the Bucs slow down Green Bay? I don’t think so, my prediction for the week is a Packers victory.

Bucs 23 - Packers 30

No.2 Buffalo Bills @ Kansas City Chiefs

Sunday, 5:40 p.m. CT on CBS

We get two all-time great quarterbacks in one game, and in this game we get two of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL. Josh Allen leads the Bills into Kansas City to face Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. The Bills beat Baltimore in a defensive game 17-3 while the Chiefs escaped versus the Browns 22-17. The reason I say is escaped is because the Chiefs lost Mahomes in the third quarter and from there on out they were playing to survive. Mahomes and the concussion, and the toe injury he suffered last week, have been the story for every sports media news station, but today he was cleared of the concussion protocol and is ready to go. These two played earlier in the season and the Chiefs won 26-17. Since then, the Bills have gotten much better, with their only loss being on a Hail Murray vs the Cardinals. The Bills are on an eight game win streak and have won those games by an average of 17 points. Meanwhile, the Chiefs haven’t won by more than six in about a month. Is that cause for concern? Not in my opinion, I feel towards the end of the year the Chiefs were bored, and it looked like they were back to themselves last week, until Mahomes left the game. I feel like the Chiefs defense is underrated and with the chance of messy weather this Sunday, I’m picking the Chiefs to reach their second straight Super Bowl.

Bills 26 - Chiefs 31