Cover photo taken from Deadline.
Last Week: 3-1
Season Total: 173-99
Chiefs 23-20 Ravens 
Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, CBS
To make a rather long story short, you will never catch me picking against Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs. I learned that lesson the hard way last season. And I won’t make that same mistake here, no matter how tall the task.
The Ravens are excellent. They’re probably the best team in the league. They looked frighteningly good a week ago against Houston. Lamar Jackson is going to win MVP. And everyone on Earth is going to be supporting them today.
But it won’t matter when the NFL’s equivalent of the Terminator is on the other side.
If I’m being completely honest, I actually think the differentiating factor in this game is going to be the defenses. I’ve been singing the praises of the Kansas City D all year long, and for the most part, they’ve been outstanding this postseason.
Now, Baltimore has a patented elite defense of their own, but who do you trust more in a spot like this? The unit and coaching staff that has been here before and always finds a way? Or the one that’s having a great year but has to face #15 with the stakes being as high as possible?
Containing Lamar Jackson will be a difficult test, yes. But no matter how good he has been, I’ll need to see his defense stop Mahomes and the Chiefs offense — which has finally found its stride — to believe that the Ravens are winning this ballgame.
49ers 27-24 Lions 
Sunday, 6:30 p.m. ET, FOX
I’ll start by saying that this spread is preposterous.
Yes, the 49ers are elite. They might just be the best team in the league. But the Lions are a damn good team, too. And they should not be 7.5-point underdogs, even on the road.
Regardless, there’s little to no doubt in my mind about the 49ers winning this game — and far fewer second thoughts than my pick for the AFC Championship Game.
I do believe the Lions have what it takes to win this game. Jared Goff and their offense has been operating at an extremely high level in this postseason and we all know Dan Campbell has the guts to win any game. I still worry about their defense, but they haven’t cost the team anything in the playoffs thus far. In fact, they’ve really shored up when they needed to, highlighted by their game-winning interception last week against Tampa. Still, I have some reservations there, especially against a remarkable San Francisco offense littered with talent.
Deebo Samuel being healthy in this game is the difference for me. If he was unable to go, I would have picked Detroit to go to the Super Bowl. He’s one of three distinct MVPs on that offense along with Christian McCaffrey and Trent Williams. If any one of them couldn’t go, the 49ers aren’t the same team — we saw that earlier this year when Samuel and Williams missed time and the offense spiraled. We all know Brock Purdy can’t pick up the slack all on his own, but with a healthy Deebo, this offense will be firing on all cylinders against a lackluster Detroit defense. And that just might be the difference.
Raza Talks Sports 