Nine Straight Threes' Championship Sunday Vibes-based Preview

The divisional round brought with it a stunning upset – Washington over Detroit – that caused just about everyone to reimagine the future of the NFC power structure, hastened the splintering of the Lions’ coaching staff, and announced Jayden Daniels as the new “it” quarterback in not just the NFC, but the NFL overall. There was more heartbreak for Lamar Jackson, though he and everyone else can point about 90% of the blame for that in Mark Andrews’ direction.

Philadelphia looked like they were going to run away and hide from Los Angeles, only to start melting down in the waning minutes, their salvation very possibly coming in the form of a Kevin Dotson false start. And America’s new most-hated team, the Chiefs? They just ho-hummed along, doing what they always do, finding a way, and finding themselves in the AFC Championship Game for the seventh-straight season.

To be fair, the Chiefs managed to make it in historic fashion, becoming the first team in NFL postseason history to win a game in which they were outgained by at least 100 yards while forcing zero turnovers. Prior to that, teams were 0-49 when such conditions were met. Sorry, Houston.

3 p.m. ET

Washington at Philadelphia

Line: PHI -6

Commanders vibes:

Unmatched. Imagine even 18 months ago saying the following phrase out loud: “Man, I really hope Washington wins this one and goes to the Super Bowl. They’re such a likable team with a fantastic quarterback and what feels like a really good culture.” You’d have been hauled off to the nearest asylum. And yet here we are, preparing to watch these guys play in an NFC Championship for the first time since 1991. The Commanders are playing with massive amounts of house money, but what makes them so interesting is this: Typically, the upstart team no one expects to win wouldn’t have the best quarterback in the game, and maybe the best quarterback left playing. Washington has just that. The Eagles have the better roster by far, but Daniels is on a major heater, and again, I cannot stress this enough, he looks like a guy totally in command of what he’s doing, not someone flying by the seat of his pants. Though Daniels’ game is very much his own, there’s at least a whiff of Lamar Jackson to him. With one more win, he’ll have accomplished in year one what Jackson is still trying to do. Here’s one more reason the vibes are currently so good: The guy responsible for all the old bad vibes is miserable watching this unfold.

Eagles vibes:

Confident but tense. I would not want to be an Eagles fan today. You can chalk that up to my inherent pessimism if you’d like, but I think the feeling makes sense. Philly has the best roster in the NFL. I’m not sure how that’s really up for debate at this point. They have the best offensive line in the game, a pair of top-end wide receivers, a solid tight end, plus the best running back in football. Defensively, they’ve got game-wreckers at every level; Jalen Carter up front, Zack Baun at linebacker, plus Cooper DeJean, Quinyon Mitchell and Darius Slay in the secondary. There’s just one problem: Their quarterback is Jalen Hurts. And he’s banged-up. Hurts has never thrown for more than 154 yards in a playoff win. The Eagles are pretty clearly leaning into the idea that they can win by running the ball, running the ball some more, and then running the ball a little more after that. (And relying on the aforementioned great players on their defense to suffocate the opposition). The problem with that is that at some point, you’re going to run into a team that forces your quarterback to make plays to beat them. That might not be the Commanders, who are very bad against the run. Then again, Matthew Stafford almost brought the Rams all the way back last week, and Daniels is playing better than Stafford. I think the Eagles will win the rubber match, but it’s hardly a confident prediction.

Eagles 27 Commanders 24