FOR USE AS DESIRED 1/19/21 CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY HOLDS KEYS TO OPEN DOOR TO SUPER BOWL LV The final four teams are set and this Sunday will determine the two clubs heading to Tampa Bay for Super Bowl LV. Visitor Home Time (ET) Network NFC Championship Tampa Bay Buccaneers Green Bay Packers 3:05 PM FOX, Fox Deportes AFC Championship Buffalo Bills Kansas City Chiefs 6:40 PM CBS/CBS All Access/ESPN Deportes Championship Sunday begins with the NFC Championship Game, presented by Intuit TurboTax Live, when the TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS (13-5) travel to play the GREEN BAY PACKERS (14-3) for the George Halas Trophy at Lambeau Field (3:05 PM ET, FOX). The Buccaneers are appearing in their first Championship Game since the 2002 season, when they went on to win Super Bowl XXXVII, while the Packers are making their second consecutive appearance. The game features the quarterback with the most postseason wins in NFL history, Tampa Bay’s TOM BRADY (32), against the franchise with the most world championships, Green Bay (13). In the AFC on Sunday (6:40 PM ET, CBS), the top two seeds in the conference, the BUFFALO BILLS (15-3) and KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (15-2), face off at Arrowhead Stadium for the Lamar Hunt Trophy. Buffalo’s JOSH ALLEN (24 years old) and Kansas City’s PATRICK MAHOMES (25) could become just the second pair of opposing quarterbacks under the age of 26 to start a conference Championship Game, joining VINCE FERRAGAMO (25 years old) of the Los Angeles Rams and DOUG WILLIAMS (24) of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1979 NFC title game. The Bills are playing in the AFC Championship for the first time since the 1993 season, when they defeated the Chiefs to advance to Super Bowl XXVIII. Kansas City, meanwhile, is only the second team in NFL history to host three consecutive Championship Games, joining the 2002-04 Philadelphia Eagles, who were also led by head coach ANDY REID. WILD RIDE: For a second straight season, a Wild Card team has reached its conference Championship Game, as the TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS follow in the footsteps of the 2019 Tennessee Titans. Tampa Bay is the first NFC Wild Card team to reach the Championship Game since the San Francisco 49ers in 2013, and the ninth overall Wild Card team to advance to that round since 2007. Two of those teams – the 2007 New York Giants and the 2010 Green Bay Packers – won the Super Bowl. Six teams overall, including the 1980 Oakland Raiders, 1997 Denver Broncos, 2000 Baltimore Ravens and 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers, have won the Super Bowl as Wild Card teams. LEGENDS IN THEIR OWN LIFETIMES: Quarterbacks TOM BRADY and AARON RODGERS are meeting head-to-head for the fourth time but Sunday marks their first meeting in the postseason. Brady has won two of the previous three games, 31-17 at Gillette Stadium in 2018 with New England, and 38-10 in Week 6 earlier this season at Raymond James Stadium. Rodgers won their first meeting, a 26-21 triumph over New England at Lambeau Field in 2014. Brady and Rodgers rank first and fourth, respectively, among the NFL’s career postseason leaders in touchdown passes. The players with the most career touchdown passes in the postseason in NFL history: PLAYER TEAM(S) TD PASSES Tom Brady New England, Tampa Bay 77 Joe MontanaHOF San Francisco, Kansas City 45 Brett FavreHOF Green Bay, Minnesota 44 Aaron Rodgers Green Bay 42 Peyton Manning Indianapolis, Denver 40 HOPE FOR TEAMS THAT MISS PLAYOFFS: The TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS advanced to their conference Championship Game the year after missing the playoffs. Last season, three teams earned berths in the Championship Game after failing to qualify for the playoffs: Green Bay, San Francisco and Tennessee. Three teams did it in 2017 (Jacksonville, Minnesota and Philadelphia) while eight overall teams since the 2016 playoffs have advanced to their conference Championship Games the year after missing the postseason. Three of the last eight teams that played in the Super Bowl – the 2019 San Francisco 49ers, 2017 Philadelphia Eagles and 2016 Atlanta Falcons – reached that pinnacle after missing the playoffs the prior season. WEEK 6 REMATCHES: Each Championship Game contest is a rematch of a 2020 regular-season game, and both contests took place in Week 6. Tampa Bay defeated Green Bay, 38-10, on Oct. 18 at Raymond James Stadium, and Kansas City traveled to Buffalo to earn a 26-17 victory on Oct. 19. TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS (13-5) at GREEN BAY PACKERS (14-3) (Sunday, FOX/FOX Deportes, 3:05 PM ET) The Buccaneers and Packers, division rivals in the NFC Central from 1977-2001, meet in the postseason for the second time. Green Bay won the only prior postseason meeting, 21-7, in the 1997 Divisional playoffs en route to a berth in Super Bowl XXXII. Green Bay holds a 33-22-1 all-time series advantage (including the postseason). The teams last played in Week 6 (Oct. 18), with the Buccaneers winning in Tampa Bay, 38-10. Tampa Bay will appear in its fourth NFC Championship Game and its first since the 2002 season, when the Buccaneers won Super Bowl XXXVII. Buccaneers head coach BRUCE ARIANS, in his second season at the Tampa Bay helm, guided his team to its first franchise playoff berth in 13 years and its first postseason victories since that 2002 Super Bowl season. Arians also led the Arizona Cardinals to the NFC Championship Game in 2015 and is the 12th head coach since the league merger in 1970 to take multiple franchises to a conference Championship Game. This week, Tampa Bay quarterback TOM BRADY is expected to make his 14th start in a conference Championship Game. Pro Football Hall of Famer JOE MONTANA ranks second with seven. Brady is 9-4 in those games. In Tampa Bay’s 30-20 Divisional victory at New Orleans, Brady threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, becoming the oldest player in NFL history (43 years, 167 days) to score a postseason touchdown, surpassing Pro Football Hall of Famer JERRY RICE (40 years, 105 days) in Super Bowl XXXVII. Brady has the most postseason games played (43), wins (32), passing yards (11,968) and passing touchdowns (77) of any player in NFL history. Buccaneers wide receiver MIKE EVANS, who caught a touchdown pass in the team’s Divisional playoff win last week, had 1,006 receiving yards in 2020 to become the first player in NFL history with at least 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first seven seasons. Tampa Bay cornerback SEAN MURPHY-BUNTING, whose second-quarter interception and 36-yard return set up a go-ahead touchdown in the team’s Divisional playoff win, now has interceptions in each of the Buccaneers’ two playoff wins this season. The last player with interceptions in three consecutive playoff games in the same postseason was the Giants’ R.W. MCQUARTERS (three consecutive games) during the 2007 playoffs. In the Buccaneers’ Divisional playoff win, linebacker DEVIN WHITE had 11 tackles, a 28-yard interception return and an 18-yard fumble return in his first NFL playoff game. White was the team’s first-round selection (fifth overall) in the 2019 NFL Draft. The Buccaneers had one player selected to the 2021 Pro Bowl roster: Linebacker JASON PIERRE-PAUL. Green Bay has advanced to a second straight Championship Game for the first time since the 1996-97 seasons. Since the league merger in 1970, the Packers are hosting their third Championship. Lambeau Field also hosted the 1996 and 2007 NFC Championship Games. Overall, Green Bay has played in the NFC Championship on 10 prior occasions. Packers head coach MATT LAFLEUR is the sixth individual since the league merger in 1970 to reach the conference Championship Game in each of his first two seasons as an NFL head coach, joining DON MCCAFFERTY (Baltimore Colts, 1970-71), GEORGE SEIFERT (San Francisco, 1989-90), BARRY SWITZER (Dallas, 1994-95), REX RYAN (New York Jets, 2009-10) and JIM HARBAUGH (San Francisco, 2011-12). The Packers defeated the Los Angeles Rams, 32-18, last week in the Divisional playoffs. With the victory, Green Bay registered the 36th postseason victory in franchise annals, tying the Pittsburgh Steelers (36) for the second- most postseason wins in history. With a win this week, Green Bay will tie the NFL record held by the New England Patriots (37). Green Bay quarterback AARON RODGERS passed for 296 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions for a 108.1 passer rating in the Divisional round, marking his eighth consecutive postseason game with multiple touchdown passes, tying the NFL record held by JOE FLACCO (eight games from 2011-14). Rodgers (12 career postseason games) is one of four players in history with at least 10 postseason games of 250-or-more passing yards and two-or-more touchdown passes. The others are TOM BRADY (17), Pro Football Hall of Famer JOE MONTANA (12) and DREW BREES (10). Rodgers is expected to make his fifth career start in a Championship Game, but his first at home. Rodgers led the NFL with a career-high 48 touchdown passes this season, tied with Pro Football Hall of Famer DAN MARINO (48 touchdown passes in 1984) for the fifth-most touchdown passes in a single season in NFL history. The Packers’ quarterback also led the NFL with a 121.5 passer rating, the second-highest single-season mark by a quarterback in NFL history, trailing only his 122.5 rating in 2011.