2023-24 NFL Playoff Predictions (Part 3 - Championship)

Welcome to part 3 of my 2023-24 NFL playoff predictions! Three for four on my Divisional picks, same as last year. And now, let's get into the Championship predictions.

Only four remain, and there are now four possible Super Bowl LVIII match-ups:

Baltimore Ravens vs. San Francisco 49ers

Baltimore Ravens vs. Detroit Lions

Kansas City Chiefs vs. San Francisco 49ers

Kansas City Chiefs vs. Detroit Lions

But which two teams will face off in Las Vegas?

Let's find out.

AFC

#1 Baltimore Ravens vs. #3 Kansas City Chiefs

Two unstoppable juggernauts are about to collide with enough destructive power to level the Eastern Seaboard.

On the one side, you have the powerhouse Baltimore Ravens, a team that finally won a Divisional game and conquered its fear of the AFC Championship for the first time in a decade. All the Divisional games were fights to the bitter end, save one: the Ravens against the Texans. The Ravens showed no mercy to the Texans and won by three scores, a blowout on any day. Between their defense with more strength than the Hoover Dam and a rushing attack with more ferocity than a cavalry charge, the Ravens look nearly unstoppable.

Nearly.

Only one team could possibly hope to stop this cannonball on fire: the Kansas City Chiefs. The one-two lethal attack of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce is like an ICBM - once launched, unstoppable. Even the running game has become a viable plan of attack for the Chiefs. They will need every conceivable weapon firing at maximum to overcome the most dangerous threat they have encountered in years. Mahomes can get it done, but can he get it done against a team like this?

Prediction: Ravens win, 38-28.

Result: Chiefs win, 17-10.

Comments after the game:

The Ravens strategy of playing like those blunder segments in infomercials did not work out well.

~

NFC

#1 San Francisco 49ers vs. #3 Detroit Lions

The titan and the dark horse meet at last.

The 49ers are once again back in the NFC Championship for the seventh time since the 2011 season. Their powerhouse roster hungers for the Lombardi Trophy, a prize the 49ers have not won in nearly thirty years. All those recent deep playoff runs and nothing to show for it. Sometime, somehow, this drought must end. Perhaps. Fresh off a narrow victory over the upstart Green Bay Packers, the 49ers need a decisive win if they wish to stand against the powerhouses of the AFC. A healthy squad is essential for a 49ers victory - but Deebo Samuel's injury looms above them. Another injury to Purdy or McCaffrey would dash any hopes of victory. 

But perhaps their most dangerous threat is not the injury bug, but the dark horse charging into Santa Clara: the Detroit Lions. The Lions haven't tasted success like this in thirty years, and thrilling victories over the Los Angeles Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have only left them hungering for more. Jared Goff, once the unfortunate losing quarterback of the most insomnia-curing Super Bowl in history, now leads an exciting team that seeks to defy all odds and stamp a ticket to Las Vegas.

Every game the Lions have played has been a thriller to the bitter end, and even the 49ers had to fight to the last minute against the Packers. Why should this game be any different? Purdy against Goff, McCaffrey against Gibbs, they will fight in an NFC Championship for the ages.

And the result? Shocking.

Prediction: Lions win, 34-31.

Result: 49ers win, 34-31.

Comments after the game:

You had every chance, Lions. And what did you do instead?