NFL conference championships in review

The two conference title games came down to coaching last Sunday. The two losing coaches, Sean Payton of the Broncos and Sean McVay of the Rams, both made moves that backfired and help cost their teams a trip to the Super Bowl.

In the AFC game, leading 7-0, Payton decided to pass up a field goal on fourth-and-1 on the New England 14 in the second quarter. Jarrett Stidham’s  pass  went incomplete  and that was the difference as Denver lost to New England, 10-7 in a game that had little offense in the second half when a snowstorm made it difficult for either team to move the ball. Payton said after the game he regretted passing up the field goal. New England’s only touchdown was set up when the Patriots knocked the ball out of the hands of Stidham, who was playing for injured Bo Nix. Drake Maye passed for only 86 yards but ran for 65. Maye became the second quarterback to pass 20 times or more for less than 100 yards and score less than 14 points and still win a playoff game. Blake Bortles was the first in 2017 for Jacksonville against Buffalo. The victory sent New England to its 12th Super Bowl but will be underdogs against Seattle 

In the NFC game, Seattle outscored the Rams, 31-27, as Sam Darnold completed 25 of 36 passes to make thee Super Bowl for the first time. He is in his eighth season playing for his fifth team. But the Rams got some help by some questionable decisions by McVay. The Rams wound up punting with 39 seconds left in first half when McVay called for two passes that went incomplete instead of running the ball to take more time off the clock. That gave Darnold time to lead the Seahawks to another touchdown drive. And with five minutes left in the game, trailing by four points, he passed up a field goal that would have cut the deficit to a point and went for it on fourth down and a Matthew Stafford pass was incomplete. The Seahawks managed to run the clock down to 25 seconds before the Rams got the ball back, needing a touchdown instead of a field goal to win. They didn’t get past midfield and Seattle now goes to the Super Bowl as a 4.5-point favorite against the Patriots.