For the fifth straight season, the Kansas City Chiefs will host the AFC Championship Game.
They’ll have a chance to avenge last year’s AFC Championship loss as well since they’re set to face the Cincinnati Bengals for the second year in a row. The winner of that game will face the San Francisco 49ers or the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII.
Here are the four possible Super Bowl matchups with probabilities added based on predictions from FiveThirtyEight at time of publish:
| (3) CIN at (1) KC |
(2) SF at (1) PHI |
Probability |
| Bengals | 49ers | 17.63% |
| Bengals | Eagles | 25.37% |
| Chiefs | 49ers | 23.37% |
| Chiefs | Eagles | 33.63% |
Let’s preview the upcoming Championship Sunday on January 29.
AFC Championship: (3) Cincinnati Bengals at (1) Kansas City Chiefs
When: 5:30 p.m. CT on Sunday, Jan. 29 (CBS)
Tipico odds: Chiefs -1
FiveThirtyEight probability: Chiefs 57%
The Chiefs and Bengals will be the late game on Championship Sunday, so they’ll know their possible Super Bowl opponent before they take their first snap.
The Chiefs have had a bit of trouble with Cincinnati ever since Joe Burrow took over as quarterback for the Bengals. Burrow is 3-0 against the Chiefs with all three wins happening over the course of one calendar year in 2022. Kansas City just can’t find the right recipe to knock off the Bengals, with all three losses happening by three points.
Will this time be different? It’s tough to say, but things won’t be any easier for the Chiefs with QB Patrick Mahomes suffering a high-ankle sprain during the team’s divisional round win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. The entire Chiefs squad will need to be on its A-game in order to pull off this victory against a hungry Cincinnati team that’s ready to get back to the big game.
NFC Championship: (2) San Francisco 49ers at (1) Philadelphia Eagles
When: 2 p.m. CT on Sunday, Jan. 29 (FOX)
Tipico odds: Eagles -2.5
FiveThirtyEight probability: Eagles 59%
This is an interesting matchup from Kansas City’s perspective because both the 49ers and Eagles pose intriguing storylines as the Chiefs’ potential Super Bowl opponent.
A possible Chiefs-49ers Super Bowl would be a rematch of Super Bowl LIV. The Chiefs won that Super Bowl, coming back from a 20-10 deficit to score 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter and win 31-20. San Francisco surely wants that game back, especially with new faces at quarterback and running back.
A potential Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl matchup would have some notable ties. Of course, the first that comes to mind is Chiefs coach Andy Reid’s ties to Philly, where he served as head coach from 1999-2012 and appeared in one Super Bowl. There’s also the Kelce connection: Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce’s brother Jason is the Eagles’ all-pro center. The Kelce brothers’ New Heights Podcast would certainly be a must-listen leading up to a K.C.-Philly Super Bowl.
