New England and Seattle both held serve today, but neither looked invincible. The Patriots have been very good on defense recently, but they have problems getting Baltimore off the field for much of that game.
In Seattle, I was surprised how well Carolina moved the ball for the majority of that game. Seahawks won it with some big plays, but I thought the Panthers were the better team for most of the game.
Anyway, both No. 1 seeds are now hosting the conference championship games, but that doesn’t guarantee a ticket to the Super Bowl.
In this century, home teams are only 17-11 in conference championship games. In the last 14 years, only four times have both home teams won. Most years, at least one of the road teams wins.
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS SINCE 2000 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Year | Winner | Loser | Score |
2000 | Baltimore | at Oakland | 16-3 |
2000 | at N.Y. Giants | Minnesota | 41-0 |
2001 | New England | at Pittsburgh | 24-17 |
2001 | at St. Louis | Philadelphia | 29-24 |
2002 | Tampa Bay | at Philadelphia | 27-10 |
2002 | at Oakland | Tennessee | 41-24 |
2003 | Carolina | at Philadelphia | 14-3 |
2003 | at New England | Indianapolis | 24-14 |
2004 | New England | at Pittsburgh | 41-27 |
2004 | at Philadelphia | Atlanta | 27-10 |
2005 | Pittsburgh | at Denver | 34-17 |
2005 | at Seattle | Carolina | 34-14 |
2006 | at Chicago | New Orleans | 39-14 |
2006 | at Indianapolis | New England | 38-34 |
2007 | N.Y. Giants | at Green Bay | 23-20 (OT) |
2007 | at New England | San Diego | 21-12 |
2008 | at Arizona | Philadelphia | 32-25 |
2008 | at Pittsburgh | Baltimore | 23-14 |
2009 | at Indianapolis | N.Y. Jets | 30-17 |
2009 | at New Orleans | Minnesota | 31-28 (OT) |
2010 | Green Bay | at Chicago | 21-14 |
2010 | at Pittsburgh | N.Y. Jets | 24-19 |
2011 | N.Y. Giants | at San Francisco | 20-17 (OT) |
2011 | at New England | Baltimore | 23-20 |
2012 | Baltimore | at New England | 28-13 |
2012 | San Francisco | at Atlanta | 28-24 |
2013 | at Denver | New England | 26-16 |
2013 | at Seattle | San Francisco | 23-17 |
—Ian Allan