The Divisional Round of the 2023-24 NFL Playoffs proved to be much more exciting than the previous Wildcard Weekend, and with that, just four teams are left competing for the Lombardi Trophy and the Super Bowl 58 title.

The NFC Championship Game pits Jared Goff and a young, exciting Detroit Lions team against a super talented San Francisco 49ers team, quarterbacked by Mr. Irrelevant himself, Brock Purdy.

The AFC Championship Game will feature Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs for the sixth straight season, but with a new face on the other side: Lamar Jackson and the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens.

With only four possibilities remaining, what will the Super Bowl 58 matchup be? Who will win each Conference Championship Game and why? Read on for my 2023-24 NFL Conference Championship Game Picks, and if you’d like to debate or discuss any predictions, join the conversation with @SakSports on Twitter.

Picks Record

Divisional Round Picks: 3-1

Week 1: 9-7

Week 2: 12-4

Week 3: 8-8

Week 4: 12-4

Week 5: 7-7

Week 6: 11-4

Week 7: 5-8

Week 8: 11-5

Week 9: 11-3

Week 10: 7-7

Week 11: 8-4

Week 12: 11-5

Week 13: 7-6

Week 14: 6-9

Week 15: 11-5

Week 16: 10-6

Week 17: 11-5

Week 18: 11-5

Regular Season*: 161-101 (62%)

Wildcard: 2-4

Divisional: 3-1

AFC Championship Game

#4 Kansas City Chiefs (13-6) at #1 Baltimore Ravens (14-4)

(Kenya Allen/Pressbox)

For the sixth straight season Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are playing in the AFC Championship Game. The Chiefs are 3-2 on this stage in the last five years, losing five years ago to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots and two seasons ago to Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Baltimore Ravens have still been searching for a sustained playoff run in the Lamar Jackson era, but earning the top seed in the AFC ensured that Baltimore would need to win just one game in order to host the AFC Championship.

Baltimore was elite all season, going 13-3 before resting their starters in Week 18 with the AFC’s top seed locked up. The Ravens three losses, to the Colts, Steelers, and Browns, all came by seven points or loss. Basically, no team has been able to dominate Baltimore this season. And I don’t expect that to change in the AFC Championship Game.

Baltimore is playing better football, on both sides of the ball, than Buffalo was, even with the Bills riding a six-game winning streak in to their eventual loss to the Chiefs. In the last three games that Baltimore played to win, the Ravens beat the Texans 34-10 in the playoffs, the Dolphins 56-19 in Week 17, and the 49ers 33-19 on Christmas Eve.

SEE ALSO: Post-Divisional Round Power Rankings

The Ravens finished fourth in points scored this season (28.4) and ranked first in points allowed (16.5.) Zay Flowers and Odell Beckham Jr. have proved to be the weapons Jackson needed to elevate his passing game, and Baltimore still possess the best rushing attack in the league (and just added Dalvin Cook for depth during this playoff run.)

But football can be a kooky sport, and the results don’t always make sense. Hear me out: on paper, looking at the X’s and O’s, the Ravens are the better team in this matchup, through and through. My brain says the Ravens will win, and without revealing too much bias, I really want the Ravens to win. Getting new teams in the Super Bowl (new in the short-term, relative scale of things) is a good thing, and Baltimore has been building towards this moment for years. I’m not saying Lamar Jackson and the Ravens can’t pull this off, but…

Think about it. Million dollars on the line, or in a more threatening situation, a gun to my head. Who am I going with in the 2023-24 AFC Championship Game? I’m not betting against Patrick Mahomes and his 13-3 career playoff record. Only two quarterbacks have ever ended Mahomes’ postseason runs short of hoisting a Lombardi Trophy: Tom Brady and Joe Burrow. This year’s Ravens team is probably better than the 2021-22 Cincinnati Bengals team that knocked the Chiefs off in that season’s AFC Championship Game, but the results so far are obvious: betting against Mahomes and the Chiefs in the postseason is a losing battle.

It’s hard to comprehend how many franchises are utterly incapable of posting a 13-3 record over a (formerly traditional) 16-game season: and Mahomes did so in the postseason. The Chiefs were the fourth seed in the AFC for a reason: the defending Super Bowl 57 champions just weren’t as good as they were last season. But Kansas City seems to be turning it on at the right time, and Mahomes earned his first true road playoff win with a 27-24 victory over the Bills in Buffalo last week.

I’ve already revealed who I want to see win, and I’m sure I’m not alone. But again, if my goal here is to have the best chance of getting the pick right, then a little begrudgingly I have to go with the Chiefs.

Chiefs win 26-23

NFC Championship Game

#3 Detroit Lions (14-5) at #1 San Francisco 49ers (13-5)

(Leon Halip/Getty Images)

Last week, Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers needed a rare fourth quarter comeback in order to take care of Jordan Love and a hot Green Bay Packers team at home. Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions have won back-to-back playoff games against the Los Angeles Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: sweating both games out, but pulling away late in each game.

Now, two of the best teams in the NFC from the regular season clash in the NFC Championship Game. This stage is no stranger for the 49ers, who looked destined for a Super Bowl berth last season before Purdy went down in the Championship Game, aiding Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles in their ascent to NFC champions. The 49erswill have appeared in three of the last four NFC Championship Games after Sunday’s appearance, and have one Super Bowl trip (a narrow loss to the Chiefs) to show for it.

This year’s 49ers team isn’t exactly the same as that Super Bowl 54-appearing team: Purdy takes the place of Jimmy Garoppolo, and superstar running back Christian McCaffrey is finding the endzone nearly every week for San Francisco.

Dan Campbell’s Detroit Lions are an impressive team as well though. After finishing last season on an absolute tear to end the season 9-8 and nearly steal a playoff spot, Detroit played from a rare position this year and still delivered: favored to win in almost every game they played.

The biggest knock on Detroit is their defense, specifically their secondary. If Purdy can utilize McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and company to push the ball down the field, this game could get out of hand quick. Goff and the Lions will also have to be careful not to turn the ball over against San Francisco’s ferocious defense, because the offense can quickly punish on the other side.

A lot of America will pulling for Detroit, because it’s just a feel-good story of an NFL franchise that has been starved for success for so long. But in this case, the rich might just get richer: the 49ers, who have appeared in seven Super Bowls and won five, might just reach (or even win) another.

49ers win 27-20

SEE ALSO: Playoff Bracket and Super Bowl 58 Prediction

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