On Jan. 26, the Bills faced the Chiefs and the Eagles faced the Commanders for the honour of representing their respective leagues on Feb. 9 in Super Bowl 59.
Washington Commanders vs Philadelphia Eagles
Going into Sunday, this game had a lot of excitement surrounding it due to one man, Jayden Daniels. The rookie star quarterback led the Commanders to the championship round for the first time since they won the Super Bowl in 1991.
After narrowly scraping by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it seemed like the Lions would dismantle the Commanders in the divisional round but Daniels out-dueled Jared Goff to punch their ticket to the final four. This would be where their luck finally ran out.
The Eagles dismantled the Commanders in what quickly became a rout. While the Commanders started with the ball and were able to drive down the field for a 34-yard field goal, the Eagles superstar running back Saquon Barkley broke off a 60-yard run for a touchdown on the Eagles’ first play of the game.
Barkley would end the game with three touchdowns and 118 rushing yards, adding to his already impressive postseason. This performance, plus an impressive performance from Jalen Hurts, who had three rushing touchdowns of his own, finished the Commanders season with a 55-23 loss.
Buffalo Bills vs Kansas City Chiefs
The Bills and Chiefs played each other in the playoffs for the fourth time since 2021 and the script remained the same.
The Chiefs handed the Bills their fourth loss in their many postseason contests.
Despite the heartbreaking loss there was a lot for Buffalo to hang their hats on. The Bills kept the game close, never trailing by more than 11 and even had the game tied with 3:33 remaining in the fourth quarter. Their attempts ultimately came up short despite Josh Allen’s best efforts.
On fourth down after the two-minute warning, the Chiefs blitzed Allen, forcing him to toss up a prayer that just barely slipped through the fingers of a diving Dalton Kincaid, ending Buffalo’s season.
If that catch had been made, it is very likely that the Bills would have at least forced overtime if not, beaten the Chiefs in regulation. The final score would wind up 32-29 Chiefs.
This game adds onto a long list of Patrick Mahomes and Allen duels, with more surely to come.
Super Bowl preview
The Super Bowl will be a rematch of Super Bowl 57, with the Chiefs and Eagles meeting in New Orleans. Last time these teams faced in the big dance the Chiefs won their second title in four seasons. Now, they are going for the first three-peat in Super Bowl history.
This Chiefs team still has many of the key pieces from that 2022 victory, with Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Chris Jones continuing to wreak havoc on the league.
The Eagles still have many of their main contributors from 2022 as well. They have also added Saquon Barkley who had a 2,005 rushing yard season and has impressed so far in the playoffs.
This matchup is incredibly hard to predict as the Chiefs have the history, but it seems as if the Eagles have a more well-rounded team. With this in mind, I am picking the Eagles to put an end to the reign of the Chiefs and prevent their dynasty aspirations, in a closely contested game.
