NFL Takeaways: Championship Weekend

Photo by Tim Nwachukwu from Getty Images

Before we dive into the games, let’s just deal with the elephant in the room that everyone is talking about.

Officiating in both games was completely unacceptable for a sport like the NFL during the conference championship games.

It was utterly awful.

I’m not going to go as far as everyone does and say that the league is rigged or anything, but it’s still embarrassing to have that level of officiating during crucially important games.

Now that that’s settled, let’s get into the games.

Eagles defeat 49ers 31-7

Kyle Shannahan is maybe the best play caller of this generation, but even he has a limit.

Getting to the conference title game with Brock Purdy was enough to prove that point, but once Purdy went down and they went to Josh Johnson, that was essentially all she wrote for the Niners.

Not even Shannahan could get them to beat the Eagles in Philly with those circumstances.

One thing I do want to point out though was the complete unravelling by the Niners at the end of the game, which has become something I’ve noticed throughout the years, and then I noticed the tweet from Michael-Shawn Dugar that the Niners were freaking out and upset that they were trailing at halftime against the Seahawks.

Then there’s the general hubris every NFL coach has to have, but for Shannahan it’s cost two Super Bowl rings from it.

Kyle Shannahan is maybe the best play caller of this generation, but I’m not at all convinced Kyle Shannahan is a good head coach.

Chiefs defeat Bengals 23-20

Patrick Mahomes, even with a hurt ankle and hopped up on painkillers, is easily the best quarterback in football.

I like Josh Allen’s talent. I like Joe Burrow’s “Joe Cool” mantra.

But do not listen to a single person who believed anyone other than Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in football.

Now, the officiating, because it was much more prevalent in this game as opposed to the other one.

I have been a staunch believer, in all sports, that officiating needs to be called one way the entire game.

A penalty in hockey should be called no matter what, even if it’s overtime of a playoff game.

A foul in soccer is a foul no matter if it’s in the penalty area or not.

Both of those sports do not call them that way. They add more leeway because they don’t want a penalty to affect the outcome of the game.

I can understand that, but I don’t like it.

So when Mahomes was hit out of bounds a split second too late and the refs threw a flag on Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossai, it made fans upset that an AFC championship game was going to be decided on a slightly late hit.

And again, I understand that.

But the rule is the rule.

Mahomes was out of bounds. Ossai hit him too late. It needs to be called.

I wanted to see overtime too, because that was a really fun game to watch.

But the rule is the rule.

Super Bowl Preview

This is a really intriguing Super Bowl.

Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce face off against each other.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid faces the team that he used to coach in the city that still loves him greatly.

The problem is, I don’t think the game will be intriguing on the field.

Back in 2020, the Niners gave the Chiefs absolute fits with a good defense. They made Mahomes play easily the worst game of his career up to that point.

He was actually very, very bad.

And the Chiefs still won by 11.

That Niners team was completely stacked and had the best play caller in the game running the offense.

So while the Eagles defense is good, and Jalen Hurts is better than Jimmy Garoppolo, I simply can’t see the Eagles stopping Mahomes.

Kansas City wins the Super Bowl 35-21