Only four teams remain in the hunt for Super Bowl LII glory and we are set for two outstanding NFL Conference Championship games this weekend.
The New England Patriots have breezed through to another AFC Championship game and are clear favourites to end the Jacksonville Jaguars’ fairy-tale run of form on Monday. In the NFC, the Philadelphia Eagles will host the Minnesota Vikings, but face another big task without star QB Carson Wentz.
We’ve preview both NFL Conference Championship games below and you can take advantage of the best odds across a wide range of markets right here at Neds!
AFC Championship mainstays and defending Super Bowl champions the New England Patriots will host the Jacksonville Jaguars.
This is incredibly the sixth-consecutive season that the Patriots have found their way to the AFC Championship game and they will start clear and justifiable favourites at Gillett Stadium on Monday morning.
The Patriots never looked in doubt on their way to a comfortable win over the Tennessee Titans last weekend and they appear on a fast track towards another Super Bowl appearance and more-than-likely, a win.
The Jags produced arguably their performance of the season to sneak past the Steelers in Pittsburgh last week and they are a team that will take plenty of confidence into this game, regardless of how big the ask is this time around.
They flew the blocks last week and strode out to a 21-0 lead at the half, but they simply will not be offered an opportunity to do that against the Patriots and the key to competing will fall back to their outstanding defence, and how they can shut off Tom Brady and co.
The Patriots’ incredible team and superior experience at this point of the season will be too much for the Jaguars and they are on track for another comfortable win.
The top seeded Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings will square off in this season’s NFC Championship game at Lincoln Financial Field on Monday morning.
Both franchises were able to capitalise from a week off when they overcame the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints respectively and both have genuine claims on this game and a subsequent berth in Super Bowl LII.
This is set to be the more competitive Conference Championship game and despite their Number 1 seeding and home ground advantage, the Eagles are set to start outsiders. They clearly and understandably missed Carson Wentz last week, but accounted for that by producing a rock-solid defence effort that ultimately starved the Falcons of points.
The Eagles have been terrific at home this season and have won eight of their last nine games in front of their parochial fans.
Minnesota’s defence was also terrific early in their game with the Saints. They kept a potent offence that averaged 28 points during the regular season pointless in the first half and ultimately weathered a signature Drew Brees assault in the second. While they fell behind with only seconds to play, an incredible 60-yard walk-off touchdown from Stefon Diggs secured the result.
There’s been several surprises in the playoffs already, but there is no denying that this will be an extreme tight contest and could realistically fall either way. With Super Bowl LII set to be played in Minnesota, the Vikings can keep their season alive with a low-scoring win.