Mahomes The Old Man among 4 championship game QBs

 Mahomes The Old Man among 4 championship game QBs

~> Patrick Mahomes will be the old man among the starting quarterbacks in the conference title games. The 27- time-old All- Pro for Kansas City is the oldest member of one of the youthful groups of starting quarterbacks to make this round. The other three projected starting QBs on Sunday are 26- time-old Joe Burrow for Cincinnati, 24- time-old Jalen Hurts for Philadelphia and 23- time-old novitiate Brock Purdy for San Francisco. The only other time all four starting QBs in a conference title game were under the age of 28 was in 1996 when Brett Favre( 27), Mark Brunell( 26), Drew Bledsoe( 24) and Kerry Collins( 24) got there). Getting to this stage is nothing new for Mahomes and Burrow.

~> Burrow won his fifth playoff launch last week against Buffalo, joining Russell Wilson( six) and Ben Roethlisberger( five) as the only QBs to win at least five thresholds in their first three NFL seasons. While Burrow was theNo. 1 pick in 2020 and Mahomes wentNo. 10 in 2017, Hurts and Purdy had further questionable paths to this stage. Hurts was a alternate-round pick in 2020, and Purdy went with the final pick in the 2022 draft. The winner Sunday will join Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson, Nick Foles and Jimmy Garoppolo as the only 192 QBs taken after the first round since 2002. who made it to the Super Bowl. Purdy formerly has a remarkable run, joining Joe Flacco( 2008) and Mark Sanchez( 2009) as the only apprentices to win two playoff thresholds. The only other apprentices to reach the conference title game were Shaun King( 1999) and Ben Roethlisberger( 2004), who did it with one palm after a bye. Purdy is looking to come the first novitiate to make it to the Super Bowl with all four others losing. In the title games, they had a combined51.8 passer standing with nine interceptions, four TD passes and just196.8 yards passing per game. retribution The Bengals and Chiefs will meet in the AFC title game for the alternate straight season, joining the rare company of title rematches. Since the 1970 junction, the only other brigades to meet in the conference title game in back- to-aft seasons are the cowhands and 49ers( 1970- 71, 1992- 94), and the Steelers and Aggressors( 1974- 76). Oilers and Steelers( 1978- 79), Browns and Broncos( 1986- 87) and Ravens and Loyalists( 2011- 12). In five of those six former rematches, the platoon won the first meeting and also won the alternate, with only Baltimore and New England splitting. The 1976 Aggressors and 1994 49ers won the trio game after losing the first two. BROWSING The 49ers and Bengals head into crown weekend on emotional stripes. San Francisco has won 12 straight games and Cincinnati has won 10 straight, joining 10 other brigades that have reached this round on at least 10 game winning stripes. The last platoon to do that was the 2007 Loyalists, who won 17 straight before beating San Diego to reach the Super Bowl. Their hunt for perfection ended with a loss to the titans. Of the 10 former brigades to take a winning band of at least 10 games into the crown game, only two failed to reach the Super Bowl the 1976 and 2004 Steelers. Five of the 10 have won it all with the 2003 Loyalists, 1986 titans, 1984 49ers, 1976 Aggressors and 1972 Dolphins making it to the crown. Washington in 1983 and Atlanta in 1998 joined the Loyalists in 2007 as Super Bowl disasters. BIG RED Kansas City trainer Andy Reid hit a many further mileposts with his rearmost playoff palm, making it 10 with the Chiefs and 10 with Philadelphia. Reid's 20 postseason palm summations are tied with Hall of Famer Tom Landry for second most in NFL history, behind Bill Belichick's 31. 

Reid has counseled a platoon to the conference title game 10 times in the last 22 seasons, from 2001- 04 and 2008 with Philadelphia and the last five seasons with Kansas City. The only trainers with further conference titles in the Super Bowl period are Bill Belichick( 13) and Landry( 12). Reid and the Chiefs also joined Belichick's Loyalists( 2011- 18) and John Madden's Aggressors( 1973- 77) as the only brigades to win their five straight seasons. JUST FOR DIGGING San Francisco kick Robbie Gould extended his postseason band. Gould made all four of his field thing attempts and one redundant point attempt Sunday against Dallas. As a result, Gould was perfect on all 67 kicks he tried in 15 postseason games for the 49ers, titans and Chicago. He made all 29 field pretensions and all 38 redundant points. The only other player in NFL history to be perfect in the postseason with at least 10 field pretensions is Brandon McManus, who's 10- for- 10 on field pretensions and 3- for- 3 on redundant points.