Last week was a horrendous one for my picks as my two preseason Super Bowl representatives lost, and I missed both games Saturday. The good news, is we as fans had a slate of games that all went down to the wire. That includes the Bills/Chiefs game that should be talked about years from now as Josh Allen/Patrick Mahomes has the makings of the next great quarterback rivalry. Our follow up is in my opinion the best football day of the year. The four best teams in the respective season, and in this case both these teams have played closely contested games already this season. It should be a lot of fun, and it’s crazy to think in less than 30 hours we’ll be starting to anticipate who we’ll see in Los Angeles for the Super Bowl.
Last week: 0-4, Postseason: 5-5
Against the spread: 1-3, Postseason: 5-5
Bengals 27 Chiefs (-7.5) 31: The first time these teams met, it was in Cincinnati not too long ago in week 17. Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase both had monster days, and as we saw last Sunday the Chiefs secondary is still very exploitable. Even if the Chiefs go all out to limit Chase, weapons such as Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd are still very good options that can deliver when called upon. The biggest difference I see other than the venue from week 17 is the amount of mistakes the Chiefs made. They were penalized 10 times, including one that wiped away a kickoff return touchdown. On top of that, we have also seen the Bengals struggle along the offensive line recently so that’s another reason for concern. I really like this Bengals team and their long term upside and hate betting against Burrow. However on the road, with their struggling line and a Chiefs offense that with Patrick Mahomes can beat you in various ways, I see them losing a close one.
49ers 23 Rams (-3.5) 20: Sometimes an opponent can just have your number or be an awful matchup. I actually saw this firsthand when I was 7 years old. The 1999 Jacksonville Jaguars went 14-2 and aside from two losses to their divisional rivals the Tennessee Titans were rolling everyone in their path. That was until they hosted the Titans at home in the AFC title game. The Jaguars got out to a 14-7 lead late in the second, and then allowed 26 unanswered to lose 33-14. As someone who was also raised a Lions fan, I’m extremely happy for Matthew Stafford. He’s earned these chances to shine on the big stage and has been great these first two games. I just don’t like this matchup for him and the star-studded Rams roster. The 49ers are just too physical, Kyle Shanahan’s experience with McVay gives him insight to how he thinks, both things scare me off. The real loser of this could be all of us having to hear discourse about Jimmy Garoppolo if he is at the helm for two Super Bowl appearances in three years. I do expect this to be a close game, but think the 49ers will just be too much to handle in front of what will likely be a pro Niners crowd.
Aaron Resnick
The Field Goal Post 