Participants,

Now that we have the Super Bowl matchup established, let’s take a look at the Conference Championship Games that were played Sunday.

#5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31, #1 Green Bay Packers 26
Guess who just won their 10th Conference Championship?  Guess who is playing in their 10th Super Bowl?  Yep, that’s right.  What an upset and road performance by Tampa Bay, who won 3 road playoff games in a row.  Their next game will be at home (for the 1st time in Super Bowl history!)

Tampa Bay scored often and early and took the frigid Wisconsin wind right out of Packers Skipper Aaron Rodgers’ sails.  The Pack fought back several times to get within 1 score of taking the lead, only to be frustrated by an INT (the Bucs had 3 of them) or missed opportunity.

Kudos to the Bucs for a solid game plan and not letting the elements impact their play on the field.  Back home to Tampa Bay for a home game on Feb 7!

HSBT Game Update – Greg the Great and JTB took shared honors with 99 points (lowest Conference Championship Game winning total since 2008), while a pair of goose-eggs were recorded.

#1 Kansas City Chiefs 38, #2 Buffalo Bills 24
The Bills started with a 9-point lead after the 1st Quarter (aided by a KC punt return fumble on the KC 3-yard line) and the Beef on ‘Weck was tasting mighty fine (more au jus, please!)  Could this be the 2nd road team victory of the day?  Unfortunately, the game has 3 more quarters, in which the Chiefs dominated with a combination of a speedy and dynamic offense and a blitzing D that got Bills QB (and their offense) out of synch all night.  The few valiant attempts at a late comeback were squelched, and the Chiefs ended up as AFC Champions (for the 2nd straight year) when all was said and done.  Back to Tampa for a rematch of the Week 12 game, where the Chiefs beat the Bucs at Raymond James Stadium, 27-24.  Tampa Bay has not lost a game since then.  Just saying…

HSBT Game Update – 2021 Winner and Ben the Butler took shared honors with 72 points (lowest Conference Championship Game winning total since 2002).

HSBT Update
PPP.  Pathetic Participant Picks.  Combined 1-15 for the weekend.  A miserable 737 totals points earned (a miniscule 92 per Participant).  Even the Participant who got the 1 game right (Pete the Terp with the KC over Buffalo pick – more on that in a bit), did not earn any Variance points.

So, with 1 HUGE game yet to be played, below are the current HSBT Standings.

• Buffalo Bill (654 points) – Holds on to the top spot by default, anchored by a 168-point showing over the weekend. He has the Chiefs as his Super Bowl Bonus pick (maybe he’ll request to change his name going forward to Kansas City).  Most recently, he was similarly positioned in both 2015 & 2016, only to end up just missing the Bronze Chicken Wing.
• Henrico FiveOh (623 points) – With a blistering 108-point performance, he has retained the overall #2 position, 31 points behind the current leader. He does have the lowest average variance for the season.
• Greg the Great (509 points) – Tied for the league-best with 135 points over the weekend and has catapulted into 3rd.
• Pete the Terp (505 points) – Is now in a great position to capture his 3rd trophy.  However, as a former Buffalo resident (and with his other favorite team hastily eliminated from the playoffs) why on earth did he pick the Chiefs to beat the Bills?  An allegiance check will be made during the off-season by THE Commish.
• JTB (497 points) – Matched Greg the Great’s weekend point total with 135 of his own, and now has a firm grip on 5th.
• 2021 Winner (486 points) – He has his “eyes on the prize” with only 1 game remaining. Everyone will be watching him closely over the next 2 weeks.
• Ben the Butler (476 points) – A poor weekend showing, just like all other Participants. Will need to refine his Super Bowl pick if he is to capture his very 1st trophy.
• Comeback Kid (298 points) – This was a very unkind weekend for him, as he “amassed” 21 total points to retain his firm grip on 8th place after 12 games. Is he going for the overall #1 draft pick?  We are envisioning his Super Bowl pick to be something like Tampa Bay 63, Kansas City 10…  He will most likely be in the spoiler role, but is still mathematically in it!

Thanks to all Participants for submitting your picks on time.  The Commish and his team will be sequestered (I guess “quarantined” is a more appropriate term these days) over the next several days, as we prepare to share with you the actual game score for SB55.

Until the SB55 Analysis and Prediction is published, I remain
~~ The Commish