Tracking the Conference Championships: Bama in the NFL

Posted by Admin January 27, 2023 NFL

We’re down to five former Alabama Crimson Tide players:

The Bengals and Chiefs are playing in a conference championship for the second straight year, something rare in NFL history.

Since the 1970 merger, the same two teams have met in consecutive conference championships on only six occasions.

Dallas defeated San Francisco in both 1970 and ‘71, the Steelers took two of three from the Raiders (1974-76), the Steelers captured two straight over the Houston Oilers from 1978-79, the Broncos edged the Cleveland Browns in consecutive thrillers (1986-87), Dallas took two of three from San Francisco (1992-94) and the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots split two straight AFC title games from 2011-12.

Some of those games famously include some former Alabama players including quarterback Kenny Stabler with the Raiders. Cornerback Jeremiah Castille, while playing with the Broncos in the 1987 AFC Championship Game, stripped the ball from Brown running back Earnest Byner on the play subsequently called “the Fumble.”

Two things stand out about this season’s conference championships:

Scroll to Continue

1) Its the first time that all four finalists have had at least 14 wins, including playoffs.

2) The young quarterbacks.

The four starters – Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow, Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts, Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and San Francisco’s Brock Purdy – represent the youngest group of conference championship quarterbacks since conference championship play began in 1970, averaging 25 years and 98 days old on Sunday.