The NFL playoffs are into the championship round and the matchups in the AFC and NFC are set to see who will end up in Super Bowl 50. The Carolina Panthers will host the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC matchup, while the New England Patriots will visit the Denver Broncos for the AFC game.
The Patriots won over the Chiefs in the divisional round to advance to the championship game, while the Broncos won over the Steelers on Sunday. The Carolina Panthers advanced over the Seahawks after Seattle made a big comeback, while the Cardinals won over the Packers in overtime on Saturday. This will be the first time that the top two seeds in each conference made it to the championship round since back in 2004.
Both championship games will be on Sunday and the matchups are split between CBS and FOX for TV coverage. The first game of the weekend is the AFC Championship game and that has the New England Patriots taking on the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The game starts at 3:05 pm ET and will be on TV and streaming online from CBS. The Arizona Cardinals will travel to Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte to play the Panthers and that game will start at 6:40 pm ET on FOX.
The Broncos are the top seed in the AFC and they will host the Patriots in another playoff matchup between the two teams. The Patriots have been to five straight AFC championship games and this will be the 17th time that Tom Brady and Peyton Manning will be battling. The two teams played earlier in the season, but Manning was out with an injury for that game and Brock Osweiler ended up leading the Broncos to a win.
The Broncos won over the Steelers in a tight divisional round game after taking advantage of a late fumble from Fitzgerald Toussaint. The Panthers are into the championship game as the top seed after winning 31-24 against the Seahawks. The Panthers took what looked like an unsurmountable 31-0 lead into the second half, but the Seahawks did not give up and ended up storming back, but it wasn't enough to get the win.
The Packers and Cardinals played a game for the ages and Arizona was able to win in overtime after Aaron Rodgers pulled off one of the greatest throws of all-time. Rodgers hit Jeff Janis on a Hail Mary play to tie the game at the end of regulation, but once it got to overtime, the Cardinals worked fast and Larry Fitzgerald scored the winning touchdown before Green Bay could even touch the ball again.
Predictions:
Patriots win over Broncos
Panthers win over Cardinals
Patriots win over Panthers in Super Bowl
