Conference Championship Day is in the books and the matchup for Super Bowl LIX is all set.
For Washington and Buffalo they will spend the next seven months wondering what could have been and where they need to improve to go one game better in 2025.
Meanwhile for Kansas City it is business as usual as they prepare for another Super Bowl appearance and Philadelphia is out for revenge.
Check out our five big takeaways from today’s NFL games.
1 – Protect the Ball
It was a great season for the Washington Commanders and there was a genuine case to be made for them to win the NFC Championship Game, they just had to avoid turning the ball over and playing from behind.
Unfortunately one thing lead to another in Philadelphia and whatever good work the visitors did in that game was unable to be capitalised on because of the mistakes.
There was no one moment that they can point to and go “that was what cost us” instead it was a series of bad plays that forced them into an uncomfortable situation they could not overcome.
On their first drive things went as well as they could have hoped for, converting a couple of fourth downs before settling for a field goal just to get some points on the board.
Then their defence forgot to contain Saquon Barkley on the Eagles’ first play, the one guy they would have spent all week ensuring he would not beat them.
From there it just got worse for the Commanders, with a fumble ending their next drive and giving Washington the ball on halfway.
A couple of completions later, the Eagles were parked on the goal line and of course Barkley had to get the ball again, with predictable results as Barkley found the end zone again.
Just as Washington got themselves back to a two point deficit, a couple of bad defensive penalties let Philadelphia march down to the goal line before adding to their advantage once again
Things began to snowball from there with Washington fumbling the ensuing kickoff which lead to another Philadelphia touchdown.
Not all hope was lost but it was looking like a pretty tall order for Washington down 12 at the half, but when Philadelphia made it a three score game early in the third quarter, it was game over and everything else from there was just stat padding.
This is a young team that massively overachieved in their first season under Dan Quinn and there is a lot to be excited about for their long term prospects.
But this game needs to serve as a learning experience for the players about the fine margins in the postseason.
2 – Jalen Hurts Was Fine
One of the reasons people gave Washington a real chance of springing an upset was the status of Philadelphia’s quarterback Jalen Hurts.
After suffering a knee injury last week against Washington, many expected him to be limited to pocket duties with his mobility severely restricted.
It turns out those worries were completely unfounded as Philadelphia just ran it at will with Hurts a central figure in the demolition.
He was efficient when passing, going 20/28 for 246 yards and a touchdown to AJ Brown, while also rushing for three touchdowns on ten carries, mostly from close range.
That patented Brotherly Shove play became so effective, Washington resorted to deliberately taking penalties in hopes of discouraging the Eagles from running the play.
It did not work.
Now he has two weeks to prepare for the Super Bowl as he tries to exorcise the demons from their last second defeat two years ago.
3 – Buffalo Cannot Get Out Of Its Own Way
That franchise is cursed, there is no debate about it.
While it will be tough to find a more heartbreaking era than when they lost four Super Bowls in a row, the modern version of the team with Josh Allen and Sean McDermott is doing their best to compete in that category.
Back in the AFC Championship for the first time since 2020, they were all set to finally overcome their biggest nemesis and the team responsible for a lot of their heartbreak.
Instead it ended in depressingly predictable fashion.
However when you look back on where things went wrong in 2024, it all started in April 2017 with a draft day trade with Kansas City.
It would be disingenuous to say that the Bills should have foreseen the player Mahomes would become because the only bigger draft surprise was Tom Brady going from pick 199 to the greatest of all time.
But at a time when Buffalo needed a talent infusion, they could have opted for a different move in hindsight.
Especially when Tyrod Taylor was the starting quarterback, that trade not only cost them Mahomes but it also made them miss out on Deshaun Watson who at the time was a better prospect (although that was definitely a bullet dodged in hindsight).
But while that move has come back to haunt them, April 2024 might have seen the Bills make the same mistake all over again.
Sitting at pick 28 in the draft and needing a receiver, the Bills had plenty of players to choose from so they sought offers for that pick and plenty of teams came back.
Reports after the draft came out that the best offer was from the New England Patriots, but the Bills did not want to take the deal and help out a rival.
Instead they opted to take the offer from Kansas City, who apparently was not a rival.
This time you can properly question the Bills decision making because while they did trade down again with Carolina and wound up getting Keon Coleman, their was a general consensus that decision would come back to bite them.
Let’s check in on how Xavier Worthy performed against the Bills in the AFC Championship.
His final stat line on the night was six catches for 85 yards and a touchdown, while adding another 16 yards on a pair of carries.
But remember, the Bills did not want to help out a rival by trading them pick 28 in the draft…
At some point you have to wonder if it just is not going to happen for this iteration of the Bills as they continue to be haunted by all sorts of bad decisions both on and off the field.
Whenever it does turn around the Bills and their fans are going to go ballistic, but this iteration might need a shakeup to take advantage of their all world quarterback.
4 – Kansas City Finally Wakes Up
There is a lot to be annoyed with when it comes to watching the Chiefs this season, they have not played well at all, yet still found a way to make it to the AFC Championship again.
When it mattered most, they finally played like the team that had won the last two Super Bowls and was chasing a historic trifecta of titles.
Sure there were a couple of calls that went their way, the Worthy catch looked incomplete on replay and Josh Allen appeared to get the first down on that late game sneak, but when it mattered most, they actually played well.
In the crunch moments Patrick Mahomes was unstoppable, rushing for a pair of touchdowns including this fourth quarter score to restore Kansas City’s advantage.
And when the Chiefs were needing a play on third and nine to ice the game, there was only one guy they were trusting to make the right decision.
However it was not all Mahomes with the Chiefs defence doing just enough to slow down Josh Allen, especially as a runner, to give Kansas City a chance.
Not to mention the phenomenal big moment play calling from Andy Reid and Steve Spagnuolo who put their players in position to make the difference.
On that final pass, Reid called on Samajae Perine, who had not touched the ball all game and boy did he deliver.
Can they do it one more time and create history?
5 – We Could Be In For A Disappointing Sequel
It is the ultimate cinematic dilemma when you have a hit on your hands, can you create a sequel that lives up to the legacy of the first instalment?
Empire Strikes Back was a phenomenal second act as was The Godfather 2, Terminator 2, Toy Story 2, Addams Family Values and of course the best sequel of all, The Dark Knight.
Two years ago in Arizona we saw a pretty good game between the Chiefs and Eagles, although few would have been clamouring for a repeat in New Orleans.
That game ended with Kansas City winning a back and forth contest 38-35 with plenty of big plays on both sides of the ball.
However, rather than looking like a part of that lineage, there is a very real chance that one or both of these teams producing a no-show on the big stage that would leave it in the company of Batman and Robin, Basic Instinct 2 or Speed 2: Cruise Control.
Both of these teams will be more than happy to turn this game into a run oriented, defence focused scrap fest.
It will come down to how well Kansas City can contain Saquon Barkley and in turn, how well Philadelphia can limit the Mahomes magic.
Maybe it will turn out to be a great game but on the surface, we’ve seen these teams really make things harder than they needed to be far too often this season.