Photo courtesy of Bob Galbraith/Associated Press
Only two games now stand between football fans and Super Bowl LVI.
The AFC and NFC Championship games will take place on Sunday. The teams competing however have virtually no postseason history against one another.
They’ve combined for just one prior postseason matchup. We’ll look back on that matchup:
Bengals-Chiefs: A Postseason First
The AFC Championship contest between the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs will be the first in the playoffs. It will also be the first matchup this postseason where the teams had not previously met in the playoffs.
They’ll play at 3 p.m. on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium for the AFC Championship. The Bengals are 2-0 all-time in the AFC Championship. Each time, they went on to lose to the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl.
Kansas City is 5-2 all-time in the AFL/AFC Championship. With a win, the Chiefs would join the Miami Dolphins (1971-73), Buffalo Bills (1990-93) and New England Patriots (2016-18) as teams to reach three straight Super Bowls.
A Rematch More Than Three Decades Later
Could a third Super Bowl matchup between Cincinnati and San Francisco be in the works? The 49ers will visit the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship on Sunday. San Francisco has won the last six matchups and the only prior playoff contest.
That came in the 1989 NFC Championship. The Los Angeles Rams struck first with a field goal, but could manage nothing else in a 30-3 victory for San Francisco at Candlestick Park.
Quarterback Joe Montana was 26-for-30 passing for 262 yards and two touchdowns in the victory. Roger Craig added 94 yards rushing and a touchdown for the 49ers.
San Francisco held the total yardage edge, 442-156. The 49ers’ defense intercepted Rams’ quarterback Jim Everett three times. Sunday’s NFC Championship begins at 6:30 p.m. ET and airs nationally on FOX.
Mike Ferguson is the managing editor for Fifth Quarter. Be sure to follow Mike on Twitter at @MikeWFerguson. Follow all of Mike’s work by liking his Facebook page.