Following the results of the NFL’s divisional round weekend (in which we thankfully got some close, exciting games on Sunday), the conference championship games are all set.
Four teams remain, and they’re all within one win of reaching the Super Bowl. Both games should be very good matchups, and they’ll be worth watching. Here’s the schedule for next weekend:
NFC Championship game:
Green Bay Packers (10-6) at Atlanta Falcons (11-5)
Sunday, January 22
3:05 p.m. ET
FOX
AFC Championship game:
Pittsburgh Steelers (11-5) at New England Patriots (14-2)
Sunday, January 22
6:40 p.m. ET
CBS
According to NFL Research, this is the first time since the 1970 merger that all four teams in the conference championship games ended the season with at least a four game winning streak - meaning that these are truly the hottest teams in football. It’s also not hard to draw a correlation between good quarterback play and the success of these teams, as the four quarterbacks this weekend will be Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers, and Matt Ryan - three future Hall of Famers and the likely 2016 NFL MVP. That’s an impressive group. Furthermore, with Brady and Roethlisberger facing off in the AFC Championship game, it ensures that one of them will be the starter for the AFC team in the Super Bowl - which will be the 13th time in the last 14 years that either Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, or Peyton Manning has been the starting QB for the AFC in the Super Bowl, and 14 of the last 16.
Both of these games should be good ones, and the winners will go on to meet in Super Bowl LI two weeks later in Houston. That game will be broadcast on FOX at 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 5.