The NFL Roundup 2022: Championship Sunday Recap

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Hello again, football fans and welcome to another edition of the NFL Roundup. One that will focus on one of the best Championship Sundays to ever grace the NFL Playoffs. Because this weekend’s slate of games was downright epic and filled to the brim with massive surprises and a huge upset and well, now that the dust has settled upon the Conference Championships, the time has come to recap this round of the NFL Playoffs before we look ahead to Super Bowl LVI.
 
The Kansas City Chiefs took the Cincinnati Bengals for granted.
There is no greater mistake to be made on the football field, than to take one’s opponent for granted. Because this is a sport where any one can lose on any given Sunday, and all it takes to even remotely allow for that to happen… is to assume that the win is yours and sadly, that is precisely the mindset that the Kansas City Chiefs locked into before they took the field for the AFC Championship Game. That might be attributed to the fact that this was their fourth straight appearance in the Conference Championships and that prior to yesterday, they’d only been bested once in this round of the playoffs.
 
But regardless of the reason, the bottom line is that they expected to easily handle the Bengals in their house and cruise to Los Angeles and well… they paid the price dearly for that line of thinking. Because they blew a 21-point lead and lost one of the biggest games of the year at home, to a team they could have beaten had they bothered to take them seriously and prepare for them and well, the good news is… the Chiefs now have the entire offseason to learn humility and that they should never take their opponent for granted again. And hopefully that lesson sticks when they make another run for the Super Bowl, later this year.   
 
Matthew Stafford finally gets to play in a Super Bowl.
You’ve heard time and time again, from pundits and commentators and coaches and players alike, that getting to a Super Bowl in the NFL is a difficult venture and they say that often, because it is 100% true. Because for every Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, there are other greats who spend their careers languishing in playoff losses and lost seasons. To the point where they enter the Hall of Fame without a single Super Bowl Championship on their resume. Which is why Sunday’s win over San Francisco, was a supremely special moment for quarterback Matthew Stafford.
 
Because he spent the first eleven years of his career, just dreaming of the Super Bowl. For the Detroit Lions did little to support him or build a cast around him, making it appear as though he too would be a typical Lions great, wherein he would achieve wonders on the field but never enjoy the majesty of a Super Bowl Run or even making it out of the first round of the playoffs. But thanks to a loaded Los Angeles roster, Stafford’s dream is finally coming true. For his quality play and the quality play of his teammates, netted him first ever Super Bowl start and regardless of what happens in the big game, at least Stafford can revel in the majesty… of finally playing in the biggest game in all the land.

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