NFL Championship Weekend

Chiefs v. Ravens

The Kansas City Chiefs (11-6) struggled this season. They had to work (including being helped by at least one dubious penalty in making two third and really longs) to beat the Jets. They had to play the Bills on the road. 

Still. They are KC.

After the Ravens had an opening punt, the teams traded touchdowns. The Ravens went for it on their own side on 4th and 1 during that drive. Lamar Jackson had one of his patented long scrambles. The Ravens survived a fumble on their own side when KC didn't make a 4th and short.

Still. The Chiefs still scored all ten of the second-quarter points. The Ravens were burned by two more turnovers deep in KC territory. No KC points though.

The game stayed 17-7 until a good punt return with five minutes left gave the Ravens good field position. They made it a one-score game. It was 3rd and 9 for KC with more than two minutes left at about midfield. Decent chance for an exciting finish! 

The State Farm spokesman clinched it with a pass. KC, unlike Detroit, timed the kneeldowns correctly to run out the clock. KC knows how to win in the end. 17-10.

(Talk about clockwork. That third-down pass was completed at the two-minute warning. 

The Ravens were out of timeouts. This translated to basically exactly the time three kneel-downs took. The last kneel-down was at 39 seconds. A few more seconds, they would have had to run a play to run off the clock.)  

Lions v. 49ers

The Ravens were favored. KC had a history of winning. This game is a bit different. The 49ers are favored. But, they barely beat the Packers. The Lions had a good season but a history of losing. They had it in them to win or lose. 

Okay, the 1 (SF) and 2 (Detroit) seeds face off. Similar 12-5 records (SF with that blip mid-season). Long-suffering Lions fans looked on. They watched the Lions score an opening touchdown. A forty-two yard play mixed in.

SF responded with a drive that ended with a missed 48-yard field goal attempt. KC made a fifty-plus attempt at the end of the first half. The Packers burned themselves with kicking too. The elite kickers who own those long field goals are precious. SF's kicker had issues of late. 

Detroit ended the first half 24-7 though SF did stop them from getting more. Detroit then had a horrible third quarter. Opening FG for SF. Detroit was stopped at 4th down. SF scored. And, then Detroit fumbled, and SF scored. 24-24. 

I'm sorry. You can't allow that to happen. Detroit followed up with a pathetic three-and-out (one-yard). 

Then, SF went ahead after a long drive. Detroit did do the minimum. It was a FG.

For the second time, this time with a chance to tie the game, Detroit went for it. They again didn't make it. Again, SF scored. Lions fans, never Super Bowl-bound, said "Yeah, okay."  Detroit did score again. 34-31. Would have been nice to have one of those two FG tries back, huh?

I'm not seeing the Super Bowl. I'm not even writing about it. The Packers and Lions blew their chances. They should have won. KC and SF are to be congratulated. They didn't choke. I'm still tired of them.

(ETA: Detroit managed to make it a one-score game but only had two time outs left. They got to first and goal with some time left but took too long. SF managed to just run out the clock after the failed onside kick. Hey, last season the Jets made one that helped them win a game!) 

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Bonus: Since it's Sunday, I will toss in  Zeke Piestrup's documentary about Satan teaching Sunday school. Freethought Matters (FFRF TV show) had him on for this week's episode. 

The film is an amusing and informative look at the Bible. It uses the framing device of Satan teaching Sunday School. The framing device is animated. There are videos of talking heads, both professors such as Bart Ehrman, and videos of evangelicals. The director is not a scholar, but from what I can tell, did a good job.

The film is available free online.