Young QBs grab spotlight in stretch run

Patrick Mahomes will be the old man among the starting quarterbacks in the conference title games.

The 27-year-old All-Pro for the Chiefs is the oldest member of one of the youngest groups of starting quarterbacks to make it to this round.

The other three scheduled starting QBs on Sunday are 26-year-old Joe Burrow for the Bengals, 24-year-old Jalen Hurts for the Eagles and 23-year-old rookie Brock Purdy for the 49ers.

The only other time all four starting QBs in the conference title game hadn’t yet turned 28 came in 1996 when Brett Favre (27), Mark Brunell (26), Drew Bledsoe (24) and Kerry Collins (24) got there.

Getting to this stage isn’t new for Mahomes and Burrow. Mahomes has reached the AFC title game in all five seasons as a starter and can join Tom Brady as the only starting QBs to reach the Super Bowl three times in their first six seasons with a win Sunday.

Burrow won his fifth playoff start last week against the Bills, joining Russell Wilson (six) and Ben Roethlisberger (five) as the only QBs to win at least five starts in their first three seasons in the NFL.

While Burrow was the No. 1 draft pick in 2020 and Mahomes went 10th in 2017, Hurts and Purdy had more improbable journeys to this stage.

Hurts was picked in the second round in 2020 and Purdy went with the last pick in the 2022 draft.

The winner on Sunday will join Colin Kaepernick, Wilson, Nick Foles and Jimmy Garoppolo as the only ones of the 192 QBs taken after the first round in the draft since 2002 to get all the way to the Super Bowl.

Purdy has already had a noteworthy run, joining Joe Flacco (2008) and Mark Sanchez (2009) as the only rookies to win two playoff starts. The only other rookies to get to the conference title game were Shaun King (1999) and Roethlisberger (2004), who did it with one win after a bye.

Purdy is looking to become the first rookie to make it to the Super Bowl, with those four others all losing. They had a combined 51.8 passer rating in the title games with nine interceptions, four TD passes and just 196.8 yards passing per game.

Rematch

The Bengals and Chiefs will meet in the AFC title game for the second straight season, joining rare company for title game rematches.

Since the merger in 1970, the only other teams to meet in the conference title game in back-to-back seasons are the Cowboys and 49ers (1970-71, 199294), Steelers and Raiders (1974-76), Oilers and Steelers (1978-79), Browns and Broncos (1986-87), and Ravens and Patriots (2011-12).

In five of those six previous rematches, the team won the first meeting also won the second, with only the Ravens and Patriots splitting. The 1976 Raiders and 1994 49ers did win the trilogy game after losing the first two.

Just for kicks

49ers kicker Robbie Gould extended his postseason run of perfection.

Gould made all four field goal tries against the Cowboys on Sunday, as well as his one extra-point attempt. That made Gould perfect on all 67 kicks he has tried in 15 postseason games for the 49ers, Giants and Bears. He has made all 29 field goals and all 38 extra points.

The only other kicker in NFL history who’s perfect in the postseason with at least 10 field goals is Brandon McManus, who’s 10-for-10 on field goals and 3-for-3 on extra points.