What will the Ravens and Lions do now that they’ve lost their conference championships?
One good thing about the two teams that lost on Sunday is that the Detroit Lions will not be concerned about Patrick Mahomes for ten years.
It will be easier for the Lions to get back into the NFL’s conference championship round, and perhaps even further. However, it’s the NFL. No one can be sure to be a contender for a long time.
It’s hard for everyone in the AFC to beat the Chiefs of Kansas City and make it to the Super Bowl. This includes the Baltimore Ravens. In a Michael Jordan world, they might all be Patrick Ewings.
We think the Ravens and Lions are going to improve better quickly and have another chance to make it to the Super Bowl next year.
They have had great seasons thanks to their good coaches and talented teams. But the way back is longer than we’d like to think about right now.
On conference championship Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions lost their chances at the Super Bowl.
Now, along with 28 other teams, they are focusing on the draft and getting ready to try again for the Lombardi Trophy in 2024.
This Sunday’s Super Bowl 58 will decide the last two spots. The 29th and 30th picks are made by teams that didn’t make it to the conference championship games.
The 25th through 28th spots are taken by teams that suffered losses in the divisional playoffs. The 19th through 24th spots are filled by teams that fell during wild-card weekend.
In the AFC Championship on Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens lost badly to the Kansas City Chiefs 17–10. End of season. Beckham was asked after the game if he was interested in playing for Baltimore again next year.
Now, the Ravens will get ready for an extensive offseason during which they will have to choose which key free agents to bring back. Such a player is Odell Beckham Jr., a wide receiver with a lot of experience.
After missing last season because of a torn ACL, he got in Super Bowl LVI with the Los Angeles Rams, Beckham signed a one-year deal worth up to $18 million in the Ravens this offseason.
Now that the Christmas holiday is over, the NFL playoff matchups are as crazy and confusing as ever. This is likely to be a memorable end to the season. AFC and NFC both have 12 teams still in the running going into Week 17.
Because of how crazy the playoff standings are, we’ll no longer use divisions but instead use conferences from now on. The ways that ties are broken for each team are going to be explained below.
On Sunday, the Detroit Lions added another painful chapter to their history: a playoff meltdown.
Starting strong, Dan Campbell’s team dominated the San Francisco 49ers, who were ranked first in the NFC. At halftime, they were ahead by 17 points.
In Detroit, a party quickly turned into heartbreak when the Lions’ plans fell apart. The Niners came back to win 34–31 and move on to Super Bowl LVIII.
“That’s a tough way to lose. “It’s hard,” Campbell said with tears in her eyes. “You have the feeling that you get your coronary arteries ripped out.” A string of mistakes doomed the Lions.
Campbell didn’t kick a 45-yard field goal upon fourth-and-2 when his team was ahead 24–10 before the start of the third quarter.
Josh Reynolds was open when Jared Goff avoided pressure, but he couldn’t catch the pass. Changes made on downs. The 49ers are still alive.
On the next drive, Lions cornerback Kindle Vildor had a possible interception hit his facemask and be caught by Brandon Aiyuk. Aiyuk ran 51 yards, which the Niners turned into a touchdown.
On third down, Reynolds drops the ball again. A punt that went down at the 1-yard line was missed. Instead of trying a 48-yard field goal to tie the game, a second failed fourth down.
Not enough tackles. A harsh goal-line run call that wasted a timeout that was badly needed.
“We feel like you should have won the match, obviously,” Goff stated. “I don’t think it was anything we’ve done this year so far….” We lose the match for several reasons because we don’t do what we want to do on offense in the second half.
You should give San Francisco credit. In the second half, they played well. In Conference Championship games, teams that were ahead by 17 points or more at halftime were 21-0.
The Lions lost another game. According to NFL Research, it was the biggest comeback in an NFL Conference Championship game and the biggest for an NFC team.