Super Bowl 2021: Updated Odds and Predictions Ahead of AFC, NFC Championships

After a strange 2020 NFL season, we're finally down to the final two teams in each conference that will battle it out for their respective titles—and the chance to advance to Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. 

(Yes, that's right; the Tom Brady–led Tampa Bay Buccaneers could become the first team in NFL history to play a Super Bowl on their home field. Some guys just have all the luck, don't they?)

The Green Bay Packers and Los Angeles Rams, kicking off divisional-round action on Saturday, kept things relatively close, before the Packers scored a late touchdown to win 32-18 and advance to the NFC Championship Game. The Buffalo Bills, meanwhile, blew out the Baltimore Ravens 17-3 to earn a spot in the AFC Championship Game for the first time since 1994. 

Cleveland came so close to toppling the Kansas City Chiefs when Patrick Mahomes left the game with a concussion, but the Chiefs ended the Browns' season 22-17. And to wrap up the divisional round, we may have seen Drew Brees play his last game in the NFL after his New Orleans Saints lost to the Buccaneers 30-20. 

The results set up an NFC title game that sees the No. 1 Packers host the No. 5 Bucs at Lambeau Field on Sunday at 3:05 p.m. ET, while the No. 1 Chiefs host the No. 2 Bills later that evening at 6:40 p.m. 

Let's take a look at what the oddsmakers have to say about each of these four teams' chances of suiting up in Super Bowl LV on Feb. 7.

All odds courtesy of DraftKings. 

Super Bowl LV Odds

Kansas City Chiefs 2/1

Green Bay Packers 11/5

Buffalo Bills 13/4

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9/2

NFC Championship Odds and Predictions

Date: Sunday, Jan. 24

Time: 3:05 p.m. ET

Location: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, WI

TV: Fox

Odds: Packers -3.5 (over/under 51)

The two grizzled veteran quarterbacks—one a bit more grizzled than the other—match up in the NFC title game. Brady has 14 conference championship appearances under his belt, while Aaron Rodgers has five.

But wins, of course, are not a quarterback stat, and Brady is on a new team, so the matchup between these two Hall of Fame-bound signal-callers depends less on past history and more on how they're playing this season and the weapons around them. 

For instance, one crucial variable this time around is that it's Rodgers' first NFC Championship Game at Lambeau Field. The Packers went 7-1 at home and 6-2 on the road this season; the Bucs went 5-3 at home and 6-2 on the road. 

Of course, the Bucs' 38-10 blowout of the Packers in Week 6 this season will hang heavy in the air, but if the two had to meet again this season, surely the Packers prefer hosting 43-year-old Brady at frigid and electric Lambeau, now allowing limited fans, than heading back to Tampa. 

Brady and Rodgers had 88 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions between them in 2020, and both teams offer dazzling weapons from wideouts Davante Adams and Mike Evans to running backs Aaron Jones and Leonard Fournette.

Buckle in for what could be the most compelling NFC Championship Game in recent memory. 

Prediction: Packers 34, Bucs 30

AFC Championship Odds and Predictions

Date: Sunday, Jan. 24

Time: 6:40 p.m. ET

Location: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO

TV: CBS

Odds: Chiefs -3 (over/under 54)

While the veterans duke it out in the NFC, the NFL's young guns square up in the AFC, with the Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes, 25, facing off against the Bills' Josh Allen, 24. 

But that, of course, is the burning question a little less than a week out from kickoff; will Mahomes be able to take the field for Kansas City after leaving the divisional-round game against the Browns with a concussion? 

On the Fox postgame show, Jay Glazer provided some optimism, saying that Mahomes' symptoms were less similar to a concussion and more so to getting "choked out," though he noted the quarterback will still have to clear the concussion protocol. 

The Chiefs would certainly be in trouble without Mahomes, as the Bills have been firing on all cylinders. Allen was red-hot to end the season, just as he started it. He had 11 touchdowns in his final four games and 12 touchdowns (to just one interception) in his first four. 

Buffalo already fell to the Chiefs earlier this season, a 26-17 loss in Week 6 (curiously, also the same week the two teams in the NFC Championship Game previously met this season).

And in a potential blueprint for how the Chiefs might operate if Mahomes was ruled out, that game was won by the heroics of Clyde Edwards-Helaire, with 161 total rushing yards. The Bills simply could not contain him. Edwards-Helaire did not play against the Browns, but ESPN's Adam Schefter reported he should be back for championship weekend. 

The over/under for this game suggests more of a shootout than in the NFC counterpart, but expect it to be lower-scoring overall. 

Prediction: Chiefs 24, Bills 21