AFC Championship Game 2019: Winner, Score Predictions for Patriots vs. Chiefs

It's old vs. new in the AFC Championship Game this Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. 

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots are back again in the AFC title game for the eighth consecutive season, while the Kansas City Chiefs are here for the first time since 1993 with first-year starter Patrick Mahomes leading the way. 

It is also a rematch of a Week 6 matchup when the Patriots held off the Chiefs to hand them their first loss of the season in a 43-40 win at Gillette Stadium.

Yet, this game will not be in New England, but rather Kansas City in January where temperatures are expected to dip below zero, which would make it the coldest game in Arrowhead Stadium history. 

Whichever team survives the cold and comes out on top will earn a trip to Atlanta and head to the Super Bowl to face the winner of the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams. 

AFC Championship Game: How To Watch

Date: Sunday, January 20

Time: 6:40 p.m. ET

Where: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Mo. 

TV and Live Stream: CBS, CBS All-Access and FuboTV

Odds, Over/Under: KC -3, 55.5 (per OddsShark)

Prediction

The Patriots are coming off a dominating performance in their 41-28 rout of the Los Angeles Chargers, but they are heading on the road where they have had some struggles this season. 

They were 3-5 outside of Foxborough during the regular season, and in their last three AFC Championship Games on the road, the Patriots lost each of them, most recently in 2015 to the Denver Broncos. 

So recent history and road trends suggest the Patriots may have a tough time finding a win, but history is not quite on Andy Reid's side either. 

Reid is 1-3 in conference championship games, and the one time he won, he went on to be defeated by Brady and Bill Belichick in the Super Bowl in 2004. 

Reid, however, has adapted as a coach and carries the league's best offense into the AFC Championship Game. 

The Chiefs have multiple weapons surrounding Mahomes, particularly Tyreek Hill, who can be a threat in the passing game and rushing game. He burst through for a 36-yard touchdown run against the Indianapolis Colts last week. 

The Chiefs' Achilles heel all season has been their defense, though. They ranked 31st in the league in yards allowed, but they showed last week they can rise to the occasion in the playoffs, sacking Andrew Luck three times and hitting him five times while holding their run game to just 87 total yards. 

Yet it will be difficult to replicate that success against the Patriots, who boast the fourth-best offense in the league, and Brady certainly seems to have a chip on his shoulder:

While the Patriots have not historically played well on the road, they still have the edge in experience at coach and quarterback, and their defense, while not great, is still slightly better than Kansas City. 

The weather may be a variable that can change the dynamic of this game, but it is too hard to bet against Brady and Belichick in these moments. 

Patriots 26, Chiefs 24