Patrick Mahomes becomes the old man among starting quarterbacks in conference title games.
The 27-year-old Kansas City All-Pro is the oldest member of one of the youngest groups of starting quarterbacks to advance to this round.
The other three starting QBs scheduled for Sunday are Joe Burrow, 26, for Cincinnati, Jalen Hurts, 24, for Philadelphia and rookie Brock Purdy, 23, for San Francisco.
The only other time the four starting QBs in the conference title game had not turned 28 was in 1996 when Brett Favre (27), Mark Brunell (26), Drew Bledsoe (24) and Kerry Collins (24) got each other.
Getting to this point is nothing new for Mahomes and Burrow. Mahomes reached the AFC title game in all five seasons as a starter and can join Tom Brady as the only starting QB to reach the Super Bowl three times in his first six seasons with a win on Sunday. .
Burrow earned his fifth playoff start against Buffalo last week, joining Russell Wilson (six) and Ben Roethlisberger (five) as the only QBs to earn at least five starts in their first three NFL seasons.
While Burrow was the number 1 pick in 2020 and Mahomes was 10th in 2017, Hurts and Purdy have made more unlikely trips to this stage.
Hurts was picked in the second round in 2020 and Purdy went with the final pick in the 2022 draft. The winner on Sunday will join Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson, Nick Foles and Jimmy Garoppolo as the only ones of the 192 QBs to the first round of the draft since 2002 to go to the Super Bowl.
Purdy has already had a remarkable streak, joining Joe Flacco (2008) and Mark Sanchez (2009) as the only rookies to earn two playoff starts. The only other rookies to make the conference title game were Shaun King (’99) and Ben Roethlisberger (’04), who did so with a win after a bye.
Purdy wants to become the first rookie to make it to the Super Bowl with those four other losers. They had a combined passer rating of 51.8 in title games with nine interceptions, four TD passes, and just 196.8 yards per game.
REMATCH
The Bengals and Chiefs meet for the second straight season in the AFC title game, joining a rare party for title game rematches.
Since the 1970 merger, the Cowboys and 49ers (1970-71, 1992-94), Steelers and Raiders (1974-76), the Oilers and Steelers (1978) are the only other teams to have met in consecutive seasons in the title game of the conference. -79), the Browns and Broncos (1986-87), and the Ravens and Patriots (2011-12).
In five of those previous six rematches, the team won the first meeting and also won the second, with only Baltimore and New England going their separate ways. The 1976 Raiders and the 1994 49ers won the trilogy game after losing the first two.
GROOVES
The 49ers and Bengals enter the championship weekend with impressive streaks.
San Francisco has won 12 straight games and Cincinnati has won 10 straight, joining 10 other teams who have reached this round on at least a 10-game winning streak.
The last team to do so was the 2007 Patriots, who won 17 before beating San Diego to qualify for the Super Bowl. Their attempt at perfection ended in a loss to the Giants.
Of the 10 previous teams to have at least 10 championship game wins, only two failed to qualify for the Super Bowl: the 1976 and 2004 Steelers.
Five out of 10 have won it all with the 2003 Patriots, 1986 Giants, 1984 49ers, 1976 Raiders and 1972 Dolphins winning the championships.
Washington in 1983 and Atlanta in 1998 joined the Patriots in 2007 as Super Bowl losers.
BIG RED
Kansas City coach Andy Reid took another step forward with his final playoff win that gave him 10 with the Chiefs and 10 with Philadelphia.
Reid’s 20 total playoff wins are tied with Hall of Famer Tom Landry for second most in NFL history behind only Bill Belichick with 31.
Reid has coached a team to the conference title game 10 times in the past 22 seasons, from 2001-2004 and in 2008 with Philadelphia and the past five seasons with Kansas City.
The only coaches with more conference title appearances in the Super Bowl era are Bill Belichick (13) and Landry (12).
Reid and the Chiefs also joined Belichick’s Patriots (2011-18) and John Madden’s Raiders (1973-77) as the only teams to complete their five consecutive seasons.
FOR FUN
San Francisco kicker Robbie Gould extended his streak of playoff perfection.
Gould made all four field goal attempts against Dallas on Sunday, as well as his lone extra punt attempt. That made Gould perfect on all 67 kicks he attempted in 15 postseason games for the 49ers, Giants and Chicago. He scored all 29 field goals and 38 extra points.
The only other kicker in NFL history to be perfect in the playoffs with at least 10 field goals is Brandon McManus, who is 10 for 10 for field goals and 3 for 3 for extra points.
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