NFL Conference Championship preview

 And, then, there were four.

Sunday's conference championships will decide who advances to the Super Bowl two weeks later, on February 11. If you think you know how these games will play out, you may be in for a surprise.

AFC Championship: Kansas City @ Baltimore (3 pm ET, CBS):

Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes checked off "road playoff win" from his professional bucket list in defeating Buffalo. Now, it's on to Baltimore, and the top-seeded Ravens , who blew out Houston to reach the title game.

Most experts are assuming that Baltimore will reach the Super Bowl for the first time since beating San Francisco more than a decade ago. They fail to take into account the obsessive media interest in Taylor Swift, who may or may not be in Baltimore for the game to cheer on her beau, Travis Kelce, and the Chiefs.

Back to the game. You'll have Mahomes and his Ravens counterpart, Lamar Jackson, running all over the place to help the offenses. Baltimore gets receiver Mark Andrews back from injured reserve, and they can use the extra help. Kansas City needs receiver Kadarius Toney to finally play like a pro, not like he's back in Pop Warner. If he screws up again, coach Andy Reid may pay him in Snickers bars.

Prediction: the league will want to ride the Swift train all the way to the big game. Chiefs repeat as AFC champs.

NFC Championship: Detroit @ San Francisco (6:30 pm, Fox):

The time for being "happy to be here" is over for the Lions. It's been more than 30 years since they last played for a chance at the Super Bowl. That last opportunity was in 1992, where they lost to Washington, which went on to beat Buffalo. Jared Goff's motivation to get to the Super Bowl is to make up for blowing it against New England a few years ago. Detroit may be wise to bring distinguished alumni like Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson to Santa Clara for the game to provide extra incentive.

San Francisco just needs to make sure Brock Purdy is healthy for the entire game. That didn't happen last year, leading to the Niners losing to Philadelphia. They have to hope Deebo Samuel's shoulder is 100% come game time. Maybe Jerry Rice can loan Samuel some Copper Fit.

For 2nd year pro Aiden Hutchinson, it's an opportunity to duplicate what San Francisco's Matthew Stafford did two years ago, win the big one after his alma mater, in this case, Michigan, won the national title. Sorry, but that ain't happening. If the 49ers get out to a big lead early, it's over.

Prediction: Purdy & the Niners advance by a last second field goal.

Of course, I could be wrong.