There will be a new Super Bowl champion this season. And there's also a good chance we'll have a new quarterback to add to the short list of Super Bowl winners.
Of the remaining four teams -- the Titans, Chiefs, Packers and 49ers -- only Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers has won a Super Bowl, that coming back in 2011 against the Steelers.
We'll also see a first-time head coach hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. Only the Chiefs' Andy Reid has led a team to a Super Bowl before this season, though Reid's Eagles lost to the Patriots in 2005.
But that's also why Rodgers and Reid might have the most to gain -- and lose -- of anyone still remaining in these playoffs.
Though he has a stellar 207-128-1 career record, Reid is just 13-14 in the postseason, with five of those postseason losses having come in a conference championship game, including one last season to the Patriots.
Earlier this season, Reid passed another former Chiefs head coach, Marty Schottenheimer, for the most wins by an NFL coach without having won a championship.
Because of that record of futility, his players want a title for Reid as much as anything.
“I would probably be happier for him, for sure,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “I’ll be pretty happy, too, for myself.”
To get there, Reid will have to beat a team that's been his personal bugaboo. Reid is just 1-8 in his career against the Titans, including a 35-32 loss this season in Tennessee on Nov. 10.
But that game occurred when Mahomes was returning from a month off from a serious knee injury. Now, he's rolling along as evidenced by his 321-yard, five-touchdown performance last week in a 51-31 win over the Texans after falling behind 24-0.
The Chiefs can't afford to do that against the sixth-seeded Titans and running back Derrick Henry, who became the first player in NFL history to post three-straight games with 180-plus rushing yards last week in a win over the Ravens. Henry had 195 yards on the ground in the upset win in Baltimore against the No. 1 seed.
The Chiefs-Titans game won't be the only rematch of the weekend.
The 49ers, the top seed in the NFC, defeated the Packers, 37-8, Nov. 24, holding Rodgers to 104 passing yards.
If Reid has plenty to prove, Rodgers does, as well. Despite being considered an all-time great, he has just one Super Bowl win to this name.
And at 36, Rodgers is running out of time to get that second one and join the dozen other QBs who have two. But he'll have to beat a team that embarrassed him the first time around.
“You realize, playing against them, how good they are,” Rodgers told reporters this week of the 49ers. “At the time, they had a two-game lead plus the tiebreaker. Just calculating things in my head, I figured that if we made a run, we’d probably have to beat them at their place at some point. And, sure enough, we’re back there, needing a win to get to the Super Bowl.”
And now they are there.
If Rodgers doesn't make it, it will mark the first time since 2012, when the Ravens' Joe Flacco squared off against the 49ers Colin Kaepernick, that the game will feature two quarterbacks making their first Super Bowl start.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Who: Titans vs. Chiefs, Packers vs. 49ers
• When: 3:05 p.m., 6:40 p.m.
• Where: Kansas City, Mo., Santa Clara, Calif.
• TV: (AFC) KDKA, CBS; (NFC) WPGH, FOX
• Radio: Westwood One
• Boxscore: NFL Game Center
• Odds: MyBookie.AG
THE INJURY REPORT
Titans: LB Rashaan Evans (foot, questionable), LB Jayron Brown (shoulder, questionable), WR Adam Humphries (ankle, questionable), CB Adoree' Jackson (foot, questionable), LB David Long (knee, questionable), WR Cody Hollister (ankle, questionable), OT Jack Conklin (shoulder, questionable)
Chiefs: DT Chris Jones (calf, questionable),QB Matt Moore (illness, questionable), RB LeSean McCoy (illness, questionable)
Packers: FB Danny Vitale (knee, questionable)
49ers: None
STAFF PICKS
Dale Lolley: The Chiefs have the NFL's best and most explosive offense. To beat them, the Titans are going to have to get another monster game from Henry. But if the Chiefs score like they did against the Texans, when they put the ball in the end zone on seven consecutive drives after a slow start, that could be difficult. The best time to get Kansas City might have been last week, when Mahomes and company were shaking off the rust of being off for a couple of weeks. Chiefs, 34-21
The 49ers are completely healthy on defense, which is important, especially on the defensive line. They'll get after Rodgers again this time around -- they sacked him five times in their previous meeting -- and I just don't see the Packers defense slowing down the 49ers, unless San Francisco has a game like it did against the Steelers, turning the ball over five times. I'd love to see a Mahomes vs. Rodgers Super Bowl, but I don't see it happening. 49ers, 31-17
Christopher Carter: Who doesn’t like watching a dark horse ride its way through a tournament? That’s certainly what the Titans are, but I have a hard time seeing their ride continuing. They have a good defense with a talented secondary but I don’t see them keeping up with Hill and Mahomes. That offense is too loaded and the Chiefs’ defense has gotten too hot to be pushed around as easily as the Ravens and Patriots were. Chiefs, 34-20
The 49ers are rightfully the heavy favorites in this game with getting back healthy starters on defense and their balanced attack on offense. They mauled the Packers last time, but I like Rodgers getting his revenge. He converted only one third down in the last game between these two and I think he has something in store for them. Packers, 24-20
Hunter Homistek: The Titans have the look of a No. 6 seed that can ride this thing right to the top. The punishing ground game, the opportunistic defense, the momentum, the identity — it all inspires confidence ... but it ends here. Mahomes and the Chiefs have too much talent for the Titans' grit and desire to overcome. That's it. Chiefs put up 30+, and the Titans, resilient as they are, can't match that. Chiefs, 37-27
Back at Mike's Beer Bar a couple of weeks ago, Carter and I predicted a Chiefs-Titans AFC Championship ... and a Vikings-Seahawks NFC Championship. Whoops. Needless to say, I had some questions about both the Packers and the 49ers, but one of those teams answered everything and set itself apart in the divisional round. That team was the 49ers. Give me that defensive line all day, especially given the context of their first encounter against Rodgers and company. It won't be that bad again for the Packers, but it'll be a bad day for cheese nonetheless. 49ers, 28-17
Dejan Kovacevic: I've had the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl all along ... right until I've remembered that Reid's still standing on that sideline. And between that and admiring all that Vrabel's achieved in Nashville, all the damage Henry's done, all the momentum the Titans have built, I'm seriously inclined to consider a Tennessee upset. Titans, 27-26
I was unimpressed with the 49ers when they barely beat the Steelers out in Santa Clara in Mason Rudolph's first NFL start, except where it applied to the defensive front. Nick Bosa and company had their way with the O-line in a way I couldn't have imagined would occur in 2019. They'll annihilate Rodgers front to finish. 49ers, 35-16
