NFL Playoff Picture 2017: AFC, NFC Championship Odds and Super Bowl Scenarios

The matchups for NFL conference championships have been set, folks. We're down to just four teams with a shot at Super Bowl LI, and that number will be down to two by the end of next Sunday night.

The divisional matchups proved to be a lot more competitive than the previous round of postseason action—at least the games on Sunday did. The Green Bay Packers needed a 51-yard field goal as time expired to beat the Dallas Cowboys. The Pittsburgh Steelers lucked out when a holding penalty wiped out a successful two-point conversion for the Kansas City Chiefs that would have tied their game with just minutes remaining.

The New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons were a bit more dominant in their wins on Saturday, as each  squad won by more than two touchdowns. However, only the Falcons truly felt dominant. The Patriots simply walked all over a Houston Texans team that didn't belong.

It's hard to argue these remaining four teams don't belong in their respective conference championships, though. The Patriots and Falcons each played well enough in the regular season to earn first-round playoff byes. The Steelers and Packers are riding nine- and eight-game winning streaks, respectively.

We're here to take a look at these four teams, the two conference title games and the latest odds, courtesy of OddsShark. We'll also be making our picks against the spreads and examining the latest storylines coming out of Divisional Round Weekend.

NFL Conference Championships

Time (ET)	Game	National TV	Line	Prediction
3:05 p.m.	Green Bay at Atlanta	Fox	ATL -4	GB
6:40 p.m.	Pittsburgh at New England	CBS	NE -6	NE

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Packers Becoming Hard to Put Away

We've seen Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers show off his Hail Mary skills quite a few times in recent years. While his long sideline throw to tight end Jared Cook near the end of regulation on Sunday wasn't a Hail Mary, it did have the feel of similar late-game magic.

That throw and subsequent game-winning kick were also a microcosm of the Packers' season in general so far. The team that once sat at 4-6 has figured out how to wrench away success at even the unlikeliest of moments.

Rodgers has been especially special during the team's winning streak, and if he has the ball in his hands with a chance to win next Sunday, the Falcons should probably be worried.

"I don't think you ever get used to the things that Aaron does. He always does things that just leave you with your jaw dropped," Cook said of Rodgers' magic, per NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal. "Guys on this team, when he makes throws like that in practice, they think it's not a big deal. Me seeing it for the first time after being other places in the league, it's like...wow."

Rodgers passed for 356 yards and two touchdowns with an interception against a Cowboys defense that is rated third in pass coverage by Pro Football Focus. The only teams rated higher than the Cowboys in coverage are the Denver Broncos and the Patriots.

Rodgers would probably like nothing more than a crack at the Patriots in a few weeks if they're the team to emerge from the AFC title game. If Atlanta wants to keep the Packers from getting that opportunity, it may need to ensure it's up by a couple scores in the game's final moments.

Should the Falcons fail, Rodgers will be up against a Patriots defense that is rated second in overall defense by Pro Football Focus or a Steelers defense that has allowed a mere 28 points so far in the postseason.

Patriots Have to Get Better Offensively

If the Patriots are going to be the AFC's representative in Super Bowl LI, they're going to have to perform better on the offensive side of the football than they did against the Texans. Even though New England eventually won by 18 points, it didn't feel like they were dominating the game until the final stages of the contest. 

This is because quarterback Tom Brady had an off night—he completed less than 48 percent of his passes and tossed two interceptions—and because the Patriots offensive line was consistently pushed around by the Texans defensive front.

Brady explained the frustration rising from the performance, per Lorenzo Reyes of USA Today:

"

We’ve just got to learn from it. This team did a great job playing against us. They had some good scheme stuff that worked. They have good rushers and they had some good guys in coverage, so they had a pretty good scheme. It was a lot of things, and then when you add our poor execution on top of that, then you add our turnovers on top of that, it doesn’t feel great because we worked pretty hard to play a lot better than we played.

"

There has been plenty of talk about how the Patriots offense performed since Saturday, but now that we know exactly which teams stand in New England's way, the urgency to correct the issues has to be greater.

A subpar performance isn't going to be enough to match points with Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell next Sunday. If the Patriots cannot get into a rhythm early, the Steelers will have a chance to control the game. Bell, who rushed for 170 yards against the Chiefs, gives the team the potential to keep Brady and Co. on the sideline for long stretches of the game.

If the Patriots do manage to squeeze past the Steelers, they'll face either Matt Ryan or Rodgers—perhaps the two hottest quarterbacks in the league right now. Trying to keep pace with either of those guys on the scoreboard will be nearly impossible if the Patriots play like they did this past Saturday.

Steelers Looking for Revenge Against Patriots

One thing we know for sure is that the Steelers aren't going to make life easy on the Patriots in Foxborough this weekend. Pittsburgh lost at home to New England in the regular season—without Roethlisberger under center—and the team is looking for redemption.

"We have a little chip on our shoulders," Bell said, per NFL.com's Jeffri Chadiha. "We feel like we owe those guys one."

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was a little more colorful (read NSFW) in his postgame description of the looming matchup, which was posted on Facebook Live by Antonio Brown. The video has since been taken down, but not before hundreds of thousands viewed it.

If you saw any of the post, you'll know that the Steelers clearly are not fond of the Patriots at this point.

"We spotted those assh--es a day-and-a-half," Tomlin said, per Tom E. Curran of CSNNE.com. "They played yesterday. ... So be it. We’ll be ready for that ass. But you ain’t gotta tell them we coming."

If the Steelers get past the Patriots on Sunday, it will likely set up one of the more interesting wide receiver duels in recent Super Bowl history. The Steelers will obviously have Brown, while the opposition will boast either Julio Jones or Jordy Nelson, assuming the latter is cleared to return from the broken ribs he suffered last week.