This is it.
On Sunday night, we will know the two teams that will face off for the Vince Lombardi Trophy in New Orleans on 9 February.
The Washington Commanders travel to face the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game (Sunday, 8pm), while the formidable Kansas City Chiefs welcome the Buffalo Bills to Arrowhead in the AFC Championship Game later on Sunday (11.30pm).
Here are five things to look out for on a monumental weekend.
Daniels on the brink of history
Jayden Daniels has been nothing short of a revelation for the Washington Commanders this season.
His ability to not only excel as a passer, but his running ability provides a standout dual-threat challenge as Washington go on the road to play the Philadelphia Eagles.
In the history of the NFL play-offs, a rookie quarterback has led his team to victory on the road only three times, when he has thrown multiple touchdown passes and went over 200 yards.
Daniels accounts for two of those occasions, the second of which was that superb performance last weekend in Detroit.
The first year quarterback is set to become the sixth rookie quarterback to start in a Conference Championship game. Shaun King, Ben Roethlisberger, Joe Flacco, Mark Sanchez and Brock Purdy all led their teams to the penultimate game in their first season in the NFL.
None of these players got over the hump in their first season - Daniels has the chance to make history as the first rookie quarterback to play in a Super Bowl.
However, unlike his predecessors who benefited from having a top-three ranked defence, Daniels' Commanders rank 18th in scoring defence going into a game against a stout Eagles team.
Three in a row?
No team has won the Super Bowl three times in a row. Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs hope to immortalise themselves in football folklore, with two more wins needed to do so.
They welcome a Buffalo Bills team to Arrowhead this weekend. The Chiefs offence has started to improve in terms of production over the last few weeks (bar the Denver game in Week 18 when they rested multiple starters).
That being said, one element stood out in their divisional round victory over the Houston Texans - the lack of production to their wide receivers on the offence. The Chiefs only averaged 2.3 yards per rush and in the air, while Mahomes had only 177 yards passing on the day, failing to break the 200 mark.
Look - the Chiefs won. They will (rightfully) argue that winning is all that matters and they have notched up 16 wins on the season now.
That being said, they are going up against a Buffalo Bills team which will push them to their very limit on both sides of the ball.
The potential X factor for the Chiefs this Sunday is Xavier Worthy.
Kansas City will need to rely a LOT on Xavier Worthy against Buffalo this weekend.@RTEsport pic.twitter.com/7DeiYFlVyY
— Michael McQuaid (@Michael_NFL) January 24, 2025
Last weekend, he had six passing targets and five receptions for 45 yards. A steady improvement on this could see a real difference for the Chiefs offence this weekend - as long as they run more offensive plays (they only ran 50 against the Texans last weekend).
Hold the line, Buffalo
Critical for the Buffalo Bills this weekend is going to be the way their offensive line plays against a miserly Kansas City Chiefs defence.
The Bills offensive line has been really underrated this season in terms of their production when it comes to blocking the run and also protecting the pass.
Last weekend at home to the Baltimore Ravens, Josh Allen was given space to work freely - and this isn’t the first time this year that this has happened. The Bills have made sure that Allen has been sacked the fewest times in the league (14).
Enter Kansas City defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. The way that the Chiefs defence sets up to blitz (when five or more defensive players rush the quarterback) on Sunday will be key to this game. The last time that the Chiefs and Bills faced off, Kansas City blitzed Allen on 35% of plays.
On those plays, Allen only had 104 passing yards, with a touchdown and interception to show for it.
Last weekend, Spagnuolo and the Chiefs defence really gave Texans quarterback CJ Stroud a hard day - he was sacked eight times.
Again, the Chiefs defence used the blitz scheme liberally, 16 times. How Spagnuolo sets up his defence will be critical this weekend.
If Bills can get the better of that, they may finally beat the Chiefs in a play-off game at the fourth time of asking.
It’s Saquon’s world
It has been a memorable season for Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley.
He is only 362 yards away from having 3,000 rushing yards in a season - a feat that no player has managed in the history of the NFL.
He potentially has two games to achieve what would be an incredible feat.
SAQUON BARKLEY IS NOT OF THIS WORLD.
— NFL (@NFL) November 3, 2024
📺: #JAXvsPHI on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/UtCENDw6no
The NFC Championship game on Sunday presents a real opportunity for Barkley. It seems obvious, but the Commanders know they need to stop him to have any chance to get to the Super Bowl.
That being said, two elements here are really interesting.
In Week 14, the Commanders did figure out how curtail Barkley - for almost 45 minutes - totally containing him for the guts of three quarters, before he then had two touchdowns in a Thursday Night match-up, running for 62 yards.
Two weeks later, he steamrolled the Commanders, ending the game with 150 rushing yards on 29 carries.
We have seen both sides to the story so far this season and the question remains - who will come out on top this Sunday, the Commanders - or a rejuvenated Saquon?
For what it's worth, this is my Super Bowl prediction.
Look for the Washington Commanders to face the Buffalo Bills in New Orleans in two weeks.
Dublin on the horizon?
Two weeks ago, RTÉ Sport sources indicated that a potential NFL game in Dublin could be on the cards in 2025, with a decision dependent on the formation of a new government.
With Micheál Martin’s confirmation as Taoiseach on Thursday, it is expected that a decision on this game will be imminent, announced over the next few weeks.
