2022 Conference Championship Takeaways
The Chiefs-Bengals AFC Championship game went into OT and it wasn’t a very good game. I literally watched one of the worst halves of Patrick Mahomes career. The Chiefs got too damn cute and screwed around and let the Bengals beat them. There were multiple trips inside the redzone, where the Chiefs were just too much in their own head. To end the half they have 3 shots to come up with points and come up with none. At the end of regulation, they kept trying to score a TD with no time left and ended up just tying it and then losing in OT. They won the coin toss and got the ball and Mahomes threw a pick and it was over. Their entire season came to an end because the Chiefs forgot about running the ball and Mahomes ignored check downs and dump off passes.
I do have to give some credit to the Bengals. They are very mentally tough, being able to continuously battle back from double-digit deficits this season. Joe Burrow continues to improve from the pocket each week, and have many people believe he will lead the Bengals to a Super Bowl victory. The BENGALS! Zac Taylor is not a good coach, but the Bengals have made the right choices in the draft the past two seasons (Burrow and Chase) to offset Taylor’s inexperience and mediocre decision making.
On the flip side we have the Rams, built for the Super Bowl. Trading away their most valuable draft picks for stars in the ultimate win-now strategy. It seems to have worked, as McVay and the Rams are in the Super Bowl again for the 2nd time in 4 years. This time McVay has Stafford instead of Goff, so there’s no excuses for either one of them, if they don’t walk away victorious. Trading for Von Miller and signing OBJ are looking like the right moves as they were finally able to beat the Niners for the first time in 7 tries!
This Rams team is so stacked on both sides of the ball, it’s very difficult to see them losing to the Bengals. The Bengals are a good team, that has gotten hot at the right time. They aren’t as talented on either side of the ball and although no one has been playing as well as Joe Burrow, Matt Stafford isn’t far behind. The Bengals are a smart team, the defense overachieves and everything about them fits the scrappy, underdog narrative. This should be a great Super Bowl, the Rams are favored (-4 currently) have a ton of stars vs the underdog Bengals, led by a young franchise QB in Burrow. I’m still debating on who I’ll pick and what I’ll bet, but I will guarantee lots and lots of prop bets!
2022 NFL Conference Championship Picks (Spread)
Sunday, Jan. 30:
Bengals @ Chiefs — CBS, 3 p.m. ET - Chiefs -7 - ❌ - lost $25
Niners @ Rams — FOX, 6:30 p.m. ET - Niners +3.5 - ✅ - +$45.83
$25 on each game - $50 invested and $45.83 returned
2022 NFL Conference Championship Picks (Straight Up)
Sunday, Jan. 30:
Bengals @ Chiefs — CBS, 3 p.m. ET - Chiefs - ❌ - lost $25
Niners @ Rams — FOX, 6:30 p.m. ET - Niners - ❌ - lost $25
Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook
$25 on each game - $50 invested - returned $0
