Two weeks ago, there were twelve teams with a shot at winning Super Bowl XLVIII, now it’s down to four playing for the chance at a Super Bowl birth.
The Broncos and Patriots square off in Denver at 3 PM Sunday on CBS in the AFC Championship game. The 49ers travel to Seattle to play the Seahawks in the NFC Championship game on Sunday at 6:30 PM on Fox.
This will be the fifteenth time Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have met with Brady winning 8 of 11 in the regular season and 2 of 3 in the playoffs. Peyton Manning has not beaten the Patriots in more than four years; his last win against the Patriots came on Nov. 15, 2009.
This will also be the first time since 2006 that the number 2 seed Patriots are underdogs in the playoffs. The number 1 seed Broncos are favored by 6.5 points.
When asked about playing Tom Brady, Peyton Manning simply stated, per USA Today’s Lindsay H. Jones, “The game next week is the Broncos versus the Patriots.”
Talk about an understatement. Manning is 37 years old and Brady is right behind him at 36 and could realistically be the last time either has a chance for a Super Bowl birth.
On the other side of the spectrum is the 49ers-Seahawks game, which is a matchup of two young star quarterbacks who, unlike Brady or Manning, can make plays with their feet as well as their arms.
Both teams have star-studded rosters and the game is sure to produce more than a few highlight reel plays on both sides of the ball. It is easy to forget that while both teams have star quarterbacks and all-pro running backs, both teams have top five defenses in the NFL.
The 49ers will travel to CenturyLink Field, arguably the toughest place to play in the NFL; not only that, they will also have to play the top seed in the NFC playoffs.
This will be the third straight season that the 49ers have played in the NFC Championship game getting beaten by the New York Giants in 2012 and beating the Atlanta Falcons last year.
This will surely be an exciting weekend of football with four of the best teams matched up playing for their chance at Super Bowl XLVIII.