Bleacher Report's Expert NFL Conference Championship Picks & Predictions - Bleacher Report

Jan 22, 2021

It happened most recently when the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers easily disposed of the Tennessee Titans and Green Bay Packers, respectively, last January.

Will that trend continue this year? Bleacher Report NFL correspondents Gary Davenport, Brad Gagnon and Brent Sobleski had better hope so, because their consensus picks are aligned this weekend as the Packers host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Chiefs host the Buffalo Bills. .

Key Packers stat: Green Bay's offense has committed one turnover in its last seven games (all wins). .

Davenport: One game does not a season make, but in the divisional round, at least, the Packers looked like the best team in the NFL.

The Buccaneers admittedly pasted the Packers 38-10 in Tampa in Week 6, but that's just more fuel for the fire for Aaron Rodgers, who is 78-19-1 at Lambeau Field with 218 touchdowns and just 37 interceptions for his regular-season career.

The hook is also on Tampa Bay's side for a game that could very well come down to a field goal either way.

Sobleski: The Buccaneers are on a roll, but the Packers are the best team in football.

The biggest difference between the two is that Green Bay's offensive front can control the Buccaneers' excellent front seven.

Consensus score prediction: Packers 30, Buccaneers 24.

Where: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City.

Key stat: The Chiefs and Bills met on a weird weekday afternoon in Week 6.

Buffalo's only loss since then came on a Hail Mary, and Kansas City's only loss since then came when Andy Reid sat most of his key players in Week 17.

This game should be a nail-biter and could easily be shootout-city, but a big play by the Bills defense late is going to help engineer an upset, delay Kansas City's dynasty status at least one more year and send Bills Mafia into a frenzy of table-dives.

Gagnon: This will be a close game, especially with the Chiefs dealing with a lot of injuries and the Bills relatively healthy.

Kansas City also has less of a home-field advantage as usual with a limited capacity at Arrowhead, and it hasn't been able to pull away from anybody lately.

However, the matchup problems Kansas City's offensive weapons create across the board are undeniable.

No team allowed fewer rushing yards per game than the Buccaneers in 2020, but Tampa's pass defense ranked outside the top 20.

A young Buccaneers secondary should have trouble matching up against Davante Adams, tight end Robert Tonyan and multiple other Green Bay receivers

The Buccaneers are a tough draw for Aaron Jones—Tampa allowed a league-low 80.6 yards per game on the ground in 2020, and the first time these teams met this season, Jones tallied all of 15 yards on 10 carries

But Green Bay's offensive line was absolutely dominant last week against the Rams, and while the fourth-year pro may start out slow, the Packers are going to use the pass to set up the run and get out to a lead before Jones busts a big one late to blow the game open

The Bucs run D is too good for it to be a Packer, I don't trust the Bills' backs, and Clyde Edwards-Helaire's injury clouds things for Kansas City

This one is interesting in that Green Bay's Aaron Jones is the best back still in the playoffs

However, the Buccaneers were the league's top rushing defense this season

Fournette can be a physical force for the Buccaneers to batter the Packers defense and then let Tom Brady go to work

It's tempting to go with Green Bay's Davante Adams here, but I have already talked up a couple Packers and we all know what happens if you take in too much cheese

The reasoning for picking Diggs as the biggest performer at wide receiver (much like the person making the call) is simple: I picked the Bills to pull off the upset Sunday in Kansas City, and there's no way Buffalo can pull that off unless the league's receiving king has a big day

Kansas City's pass defense was good but not great this season, so the opportunities should be there