Looking forward to the NFL Conference Finals. Will Burrow Mahomes beat him for the fourth time in a row

The NFL season is drawing to a close with the conference finals tonight. And after them – only the Super Bowl.

Who plays in these finals, who is the favorite, which top players are especially interesting now, what is the intrigue of each of the matches and what plots should you follow? Let’s figure it out together! 

Who will play in the finals and when will they take place?

The Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco Photoniners will play in the National Conference Finals, the match will beginSunday, January 29 at 23:00 Moscow time. The game will be played in Philadelphia, with the Eagles earning a higher regular season seed and home field advantage.

The American Conference champion will be determined on Monday night in a match between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals –January 30 at 02:30. Here, the Chiefs play at home – also as owners of a higher seeding.

Both finals are very even in terms of alignment, this has not happened for a long time in recent years. Bookmakers determine the favorites of the first pair of “San Francisco” with an advantage of 2.5 points, in the second – “Bengals” by only 1.5 points.

This is understandable: all four teams have no obvious failing places, everyone is in great shape right now. Everything will be decided in the details, most likely, the intrigue will last until the very last seconds.

Philadelphia Eagles vs. San Francisco Photoniners: Two Fine-Tuned Mechanisms Clash

Deceptions and intrigues. The opponents are coolly balanced: they have excellent passing attack, and remote attack, defense is also in order. This is well illustrated by the numbers: both teams are in the top 3 of the entire league in points difference in the regular season. Philadelphia is third with a difference of +133 points, and San Francisco is in the lead with +173 points.

The key factor could be how the Eagles play defensively. The Niners have a variety of offensive playmakers, and it’s critical to contain them. With a pass rush (pressure on the quarterback, to put it simply), the Eagles should be fine, they are extremely good at it: they earned as many as 70 sacks during the regular season – by a margin, the best in the league. Brock Purdy (the very last pick in the draft who won all the matches) certainly copes well with the pressure of the opponent’s defense, but with each round the morale pressure also grows.

But the Eagles defense against the clearance looks weaker. During the regular season, the Eagles conceded 15 touchdowns on the ground, averaging 4.6 yards per rush. It’s alarming, especially considering who’s in charge of the Niners’ clearance.

Main persons. There is a whole bunch of stars here. The easiest way to catch on to attacking players. This season, the Niners have signed an all-starrunning back Christian McCaffrey (#23)– and now he is definitely one of the main threats, having gained good form for the relegation matches. In 12 games this season for San Francisco, Christian scored 7 touchdowns on a run and 4 touchdowns on a pass.

Still San Francisco is strongtight end George Kittle (#85). Very nimble for his position and size, one of the main targets of quarterback Brock Purdy. Kittle has hit 11 touchdowns this season, his best ever. Still no touchdowns in the playoffs. It’s time to fix it.