WASHINGTON — And then there were four.
For the first time since the NFL/AFL merger, Championship Sunday will feature the league’s four highest-scoring teams — and, ironically, they’re all rematches of some of the highest scoring games of the regular season.
In the AFC, the Kansas City Chiefs host the New England Patriots in a rematch of the prime time shootout the Pats won at home, 43-40 in Week 6. The NFC title game will be a repeat of the Week 9 game in New Orleans, where the Saints beat the Los Angeles Rams 45-35.
Let’s recap the divisional round, shall we?
Saints 20 It took a gimmicky motivational ploy, some incredible cleats and a ridiculous drive for the ages but New Orleans found the right formula to vanquish the Nick Foles magic once and for all and spoil his high school reunion. Speaking of reunions … don’t expect the Rams’ return to the Big Easy to be, well, easy. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
AP Photo/Butch Dill
Patriots 41 Death, taxes and Tom Brady beating Philip Rivers. The G.O.A.T. is now 8-0 against Rivers all-time, and 9-0 in Foxborough this season even though the run game was really the catalyst on both sides: Sony Michel’s 129-yard, 3-TD game carried the offense while the defense held Melvin Gordon to just 15 yards on nine attempts. The Patriots enter their eighth straight AFC title game appearance healthy, motivated by the naysayers and looking ready to parlay a rematch with the Chiefs into a third straight trip to the Super Bowl. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
AP Photo/Elise Amendola
Rams 30 In their NFL-record ninth postseason meeting that set viewing records, the Rams took the lead in the all-time series thanks to a dominant 273-yard rushing effort and a defense that atoned for an underwhelming regular season by completely shutting down Ezekiel Elliott. L.A. has another shot at the Saints (one Marcus Peters has been waiting for), but they won’t get the benefit of a QB getting sacked by his own teammate again. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
Chiefs 31 Kansas City won their first home playoff game in 25 years to host the AFC championship game for the first time — and everything we previously believed to be fact changed because of it. Andy Reid’s clock management is underrated, Adam Vinatieri is overrated, and the Chiefs’ much maligned defense might actually be pretty good. If KC’s D can play like this two more times, this could be a repeat of the 2006 Colts team that won it all despite a statistically terrible defense. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)
AP Photo/Ed Zurga
