NFL playoffs: Experience is key for Rodgers and the Packers

It’s all to play for on Sunday as the Conference Championship games will provide us the two teams heading to Super Bowl LIV in Miami on the first Sunday in February.

First up the No 2 AFC Seed Kansas City Chiefs will host their second straight AFC Championship game as they welcome the surprise No 6 ranked side the Tennessee Titans who finished the regular season 11-7.

By defeating the No 3 seed and reigning champions the New England Patriots, not to mention the No 1 seed Baltimore Ravens in back-to-back road wins, Mike Vrabel’s Titans have looked like a well-rounded team capable of winning a championship.

And Tennessee head back to Arrowhead Stadium, where they beat the Chiefs 35-32 in Week 10 on Patrick Mahomes’ comeback from a dislocated kneecap, trying to repeat that feat and make it to the big one on February 4th.

However, Mahomes is back now and firing on all cylinders as was proved in Kansas City’s incredible comeback win against the Texans in last week’s division game.

Having fallen 24-points behind due to a number of defensive and special teams errors, the Chiefs scored 41 straight points thanks to Mahomes, who completed 23 of 35 passes for 321 yards and five touchdowns.

When these two last met back in Week 10, Titans running back Derrick Henry rushed for 188 yards and the Chiefs defence will have to shut him down if they are to reach their first Super Bowl since winning it in 1969.

At 23:40, it’s another rematch – this time between the No 1 NFC Seed the San Francisco 49ers – who ended the regular season 14-3 and the No 2 ranked Green Bay Packers, who finished on the same record.

When these two teams met in Week 12, the Niners were the team to beat in the NFL and dominating in both defence and offence as they overpowered the Packers with a convincing 37-8 victory.

However, since then, the Packers have not lost and have only allowed an average of 15.7 points per game while also having experience on their side.

That’s because Aaron Rodgers is the only quarterback remaining to have reached a Super Bowl before and lifted the Lombardi Trophy in 2011 when his Green Bay side beat the Pittsburgh Steelers back in 2011.

Rodgers completed 16-of-27 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns against Seattle in the divisional round and has hit 64 percent of his passes for an average of 290.1 yards and 14 touchdowns in his seven career games against the 49ers, meaning Kyle Shanahan’s side will have plenty to think about if they are to advance on Sunday.