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This weekend’s two NFL Conference Championship games are shaping up to make for one of the closest semifinal rounds in recent memory.
The winners of Sunday’s two games — the San Francisco 49ers vs. the Philadelphia Eagles, followed by the Cincinnati Bengals vs. the Kansas City Chiefs — will meet Feb. 12 for Super Bowl LVII.
All four remaining teams have a legitimate shot at winning it all, as the betting odds show. For the first time in more than 25 years, the spread in both games is less than a field goal. And the difference in odds between the favorite (the Eagles) and the longest shot (the 49ers) is so tight that, by that measure, this weekend is the most evenly matched conference championship round in recorded betting history.
Whether you’re a longtime football viewer or a decided non-fan reluctantly tuning in to humor a loved one, here are some storylines to follow this weekend: Just how fast is it possible to recover from a high ankle sprain?
The Kansas City Chiefs are perhaps the most successful team in the NFL these days. Sunday will mark their 5th straight conference championship game (although they’ve only been able to turn that into one ring so far).
But this year’s chances took a hit when star quarterback Patrick Mahomes sprained his ankle in last week’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Though the Chiefs pulled out the victory, Mahomes was temporarily sidelined for evaluation before returning to hobble and limp his way to the win.
At first, the team was tight-lipped about his recovery and whether the presumptive MVP would be available to play against the Bengals on Sunday.
Then, later in the week, the team announced that Mahomes would play and allowed reporters to briefly watch him participate in a pair of low-key warmup sessions, leaving Chiefs fans (and bettors) to scrutinize the recordings like the Zapruder film.
But even when the Chiefs have been healthy, they’ve had trouble with the Bengals. These two teams have faced off three other times in the last 390 days, and Cincinnati has won all three games by 3 points each.
For round 4, it’s anyone’s guess whether Mahomes will be recovered enough to play well enough to win.
