Final 4 NFL playoff teams, ranked by who’s most likely to win Super Bowl

The NFL is all the way down to the ultimate 4.

With the Divisional Spherical behind us, we now know what 4 groups nonetheless have an opportunity to make it to Tremendous Bowl LVII. On the AFC facet of issues, a rematch of final 12 months’s AFC Championship Recreation is on faucet because the Cincinnati Bengals will return to Arrowhead Stadium to tackle the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs.

Over within the NFC, the Philadelphia Eagles superior to the NFC Championship Recreation after defeating the New York Giants, and they’ll host the San Francisco 49ers, who outlasted the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night.

Did this weekend change our pondering right here at SB Nation? Effectively, maybe a proper ankle harm did…

Right here is how we view the ultimate 4 groups, as voted on by our employees.

1. Philadelphia Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles earned the highest seed within the NFC with their play through the common season.

And on Saturday night time, they reminded the soccer world simply how good they are often.

Coming off the bye week, the Eagles throttled the New York Giants by a ultimate rating of 38-7, advancing to the NFC Championship Recreation for the primary time since their run to Tremendous Bowl LII. Quarterback Jalen Hurts shrugged off his lingering shoulder harm, finishing 16 of 24 passes for 154 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including one other 34 dashing yards and a landing within the victory. However one other participant who had been coping with an harm, proper sort out Lane Johnson, regarded stable within the win as properly. Johnson suffered a torn adductor muscle on Christmas Eve, however shrugged off surgical procedure so he might return for the playoffs.

Then there was the Eagles’ protection, which slowed down the New York offense, sacked Daniel Jones 5 instances and compelled an interception within the victory.

It was the sort of full efficiency that had many pondering earlier within the 12 months that the Eagles would certainly be the workforce to beat within the NFC. The harm to Hurts had some questioning if the trail to the Tremendous Bowl would run by way of a metropolis apart from Philadelphia, however the workforce we noticed on Saturday night time definitely seems like a workforce that might make a really deep run.

The following step, nevertheless? Determining Brock Purdy.

— Mark Schofield

2. Kansas Metropolis Chiefs

Photograph by Jason Hanna/Getty Photos

Patrick Mahomes now has probably the most scrutinized proper ankle within the NFL, if not past.

The Kansas Metropolis Chiefs superior to the AFC Championship Recreation with a 27-20 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. However the story for the subsequent week would be the well being of their quarterback. Mahomes suffered a proper ankle harm early in opposition to the Jaguars, and missed the remainder of the primary half on Saturday afternoon. He returned to the sport — throwing a landing move on only one leg — and completed the day having accomplished 22 of 30 passes for 195 and a pair of scores.

X-rays carried out at halftime had been detrimental, however Ian Rapoport of the NFL Community reported on Saturday night time that the quarterback suffered a excessive ankle sprain.

Given how Mahomes fought to stay within the sport, and returned to the sector after halftime, it’s arduous to think about that he can be out for Sunday. And his head coach appeared to agree after the sport: “He’s a tricky child,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid mentioned after the sport. “So, he needed to be in there. He needed to be competing. It’s a tribute to him and his competitiveness. Nevertheless, you bought to verify he’s bodily OK the place he can shield himself. If he can’t then he can’t play, and now we have to go to the subsequent man. However he’s a tricky nut. I inform you, he’s aggressive. He’s very, very aggressive.”

However how would possibly Mahomes take care of per week?

How the harm impacts him, and the Kansas Metropolis offense, is an enormous challenge to trace over the approaching days.

So too would be the query of how the Chiefs will fare in opposition to the Cincinnati Bengals. Mahomes and firm have misplaced three-straight to the Bengals, together with final 12 months’s AFC Championship Recreation.

— Mark Schofield

3. Cincinnati Bengals

Photograph by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Photos

Following the Bengals’ 27-10 victory over the Payments, quarterback Joe Burrow was requested concerning the NFL’s plans to host a possible AFC Championship sport at a impartial website between the Chiefs and Payments and the way that matter motivated him and his workforce heading into the divisional spherical.

The third-year passer solely wanted 4 phrases to articulate his ideas: “Higher ship these refunds.”

After a posting a 2-3 report by way of the primary 5 weeks of the season, many believed the Bengals had been headed for some type of a Tremendous Bowl hangover. However in the end, Cincinnati would go on to win 10 of their subsequent 11 video games and end the 12 months 12-4 en path to snatching the AFC North crown.

Now, they’re the winners of two playoff video games and are headed for his or her second consecutive AFC championship sport the place they’ll journey to Kansas Metropolis to face the Chiefs for a rematch of final 12 months’s title tilt.

Whereas the high-octane offense has been the calling card of the Bengals over the previous two seasons, don’t sleep on defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo and the unimaginable job he’s accomplished constructing his unit into a bunch worthy of complementing the elite group on the opposite facet of the ball.

— Michael Peterson

4. San Francisco 49ers

Full disclosure: I voted the 49ers at No. 1.

Why? This workforce is stacked.

At first of the playoffs, I predicted the playoffs in my thoughts and I had the 49ers beating Kansas Metropolis within the Tremendous Bowl. The primary two rounds of the playoffs, San Francisco wins over the Seattle Seahawks and Dallas Cowboys, did nothing to sway my thoughts.

Photograph by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Photos

The largest motive is that rookie Brock Purdy continues to point out he’s a profit and never a determent to the 49ers. He’s not good, however the child is a superb match for this workforce.

So, quarterback will not be a difficulty in San Francisco. Mix that with a humiliation of offensive weapons, a powerful offensive line and a well timed, relentless protection and there may be nothing to not like about this workforce’s possibilities of profitable its sixth Tremendous Bowl in workforce historical past and first in 28 years.

Sure, the NFL’s Ultimate 4 is stacked, however don’t low cost this workforce.

— Invoice Williamson