It’s football’s most anticipated night. Especially for fans of the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs.
WTOP Sports Director George Wallace joined WTOP’s Liz Anderson to tell us what the teams are looking for — and to share his prediction.
George Wallace: For the Chiefs, they’re looking for a fourth title in five years. I mean, they they’ve been there before. They know what it takes to get there. They know how to handle all the hype and the week leading up to it. They have Patrick Mahomes. They’ve won on the road in the postseason twice. This is the first time they’ve had to go win on the road during the postseason. Usually they’re at home. So they’re definitely battle tested, no doubt about it, and I think ready for anything.
As far as the Niners are concerned, this is the first time they’ve won the NFC Championship Game in three years. They lost the previous two. Most of these players have been there before but not a lot of them. This is a Super Bowl rematch from four years ago, but it’s different for them because they have a new quarterback now. The defense is a little better than it was four years ago, they blew a 10-point lead in that game. So they’ve learned from that.
Both teams have a lot going for them. With the Niners, look, they were one of the best teams in the league all year and the Chiefs, they took a different route to get there. This time, they went 11 and 6 in the regular season. Not something they’re used to. So they had to battle a little more to get there than the Niners do.
Liz Anderson: You went over what’s at stake for Kansas City. Of course, there’s the possibility of a repeat championship for them … How often does something like this happen in the NFL, a repeat championship?
George Wallace: It hasn’t happened since 2004/2005. It’s been a while since the Patriots did it. You know, teams have won two out of three years, or three out of five … But the repeat, it’s just so hard to do … Teams have had an opportunity to do it, but they haven’t been able to but yeah, it’d be the first time in nearly 20 years. If the chiefs were able to pull that off today.
Liz Anderson: So final question, you know what it is: What’s your prediction for the game today?
George Wallace: I have a hard time going against Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid and Travis Kelce — and these guys have proven that they’re champions. They’ve proven that they can get it done on the biggest stage and I think they get it done again today. I think they they’re on a different mission this year like I said, it took a different route to get there.
I’ve got the Chiefs 27-21 tonight over the Niners and repeating as Super Bowl champs.
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