Yesterday came the semifinal games between the San Francisco 49ers versus the Philadelphia Eagles and the Cincinatti Bengals versus the Kansas City Chiefs.

The end result was that the Eagles beat the 49ers pretty impressively and the Chiefs outlasted the Bengals. For those counting, I predicted the Eagles win but felt the Bengals might have the edge over the Chiefs (you can read my .500 prediction here!).

However, the results of the Eagles/49ers game shows why predictions about sporting events are often the proverbial roll of the dice.

In the 49ers first series, quarterback Brock Purdy, who to that point has shown flashes of brilliance, sustained an injury to his throwing arm. Note that Mr. Purdy, who was the very last pick in the previous year’s draft (Mr. Irrelevant, as the joke goes) and who only got to be quarterback because of injuries to the other quarterbacks before him, had not lost a single game since he became QB of the 49ers.

His injury meant fourth string quarterback Josh Johnson was inserted into the game and, shortly thereafter, he fell back and apparently sustained a head injury/concussion and suddenly the 49ers had to bring Purdy back in for the bulk of the game… even though he could no longer throw the ball.

So what we had was a game where the Eagles knew each and every play would be a run and, let’s face it, the 31-7 loss they sustained could have been a lot worse given these circumstances.

Essentially any prediction about this game was null and void because of Purdy’s injury, and that, my friends, is why sports is a tough beast to predict. Had Purdy not sustained the injury, I suspect the game would have been closer but… I dunno.

Regarding the Chiefs and the Bengals, as I wrote in my prediction, I worried starting Chief QB Patrick Mahomes -easily one of the very best QBs playing the game right now- came into the game with a “high ankle sprain” and, frankly, I wondered if he would be able to win against the Bengals, who were healthier and dismantled the Buffalo Bills the week before.

Welp… it was a tight game and Mahomes gutted it out and obviously played with a lot of pain and, in the end, they managed to kick the winning field goal with only seconds left to play.

Which brings us to the SuperBowl in two weeks.

Who do I think can win?

You know… I’m at a loss. My head says the Eagles. They appear to be a very complete team although their QB, Jalen Hurts, is nursing a sprained sternoclavicular joint. This is where the clavicle or collarbone meets the sternum/breastbone. Sounds painful.

Still, we are talking about a team that is a very fearsome unit.

My heart, on the other hand, feels like the Chiefs -and especially QB Mahomes- really, really, really wants this, as was demonstrated in the way he played yesterday.

Does Mahomes have another -quite literally the last- gutsy game to play? Or will the Eagles continue their march?

We’ll see in two weeks, won’t we?

…at least the NFL is for this season!

Over the past weekend, the NFL had their divisional round, where we whittle down eight teams into four. Next Sunday we’ll have the semi-finals where those four teams will be whittled down to the two that will play in the SuperBowl.

Before getting to that, the teams that played this past weekend were the Kansas City Chiefs who beat the Jacksonville Jaguars (27-20), the Eagles beat the New York Giants (a pretty big beatdown, 38-7), the 49ers beat the Cowboys (19-12), and, finally, the Bengals beat the Buffalo Bills (27-10).

While it seems there’s a lot of talk about the Cowboys once again losing out on advancing, I find the results of the Bengals/Buffalo Bills game a little more fascinating… in the sense that I don’t quite understand why so many seemed to think the Bills would take out the Bengals.

A few weeks ago we had the very horrifying aborted game between the Bengals/Bills wherein Damar Hamlin collapses and, we found, suffered heart failure (you can read my thoughts about that here).

Mr. Hamlin would eventually be released from the hospital and he was actually present -though obviously not playing- at the game, which much have been an incredibly encouraging thing for both the Bills players and audience to see.

The game itself took place at the Bills’ stadium. Coming into this year, the Bills were viewed as a heavy possibility to make it to the Superbowl this year. Given the torrid way they came out at the start, it seemed they were indeed unstoppable.

So, yeah, I guess I can understand to some degree why many favored the Bills over the Bengals.

Yet they lost. Not only did they lose, they were dominated, IMHO, through most of the game. The final score, thought not quite as dramatic as the Giants/Eagles final score, points to a game where Buffalo lost and lost quite big. Their offense clearly was stopped. Their defense, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have answers to the Bengals offense.

So… a big surprise, no?

I dunno.

Look, I’m the last person in the world one should look for any deep insight into any sport or games. I’m a casual fan, though loyal, to the ones that are local here. Having said that, I just don’t have the time to do much more than catch a game here and there and, often, not the entire game.

Football works the best for me because there are only a limited amount of games to watch and they occur only once a week.

So, yeah, I watched most of the Miami Dolphin games.

I like the team, though they have wallowed in mediocrity for very, very long.

This year, however, they had flashes of brilliance especially in several games where quarterback Tua Tagovailoa got to shine. However, he also suffered concussions and, in their final game of the season, the first round/wildcard of the playoffs, they lost to these same Buffalo Bills, two weeks ago and at the Bills’ stadium, 34-31.

Think about that: The Dolphins, a team that suffered tremendous personnel loss to injury and who were fielding a third string quarterback, held their own against these Buffalo Bills and, if memory serves, lost the game in the last minutes by a field goal.

Yet many thought that one week later these Bills would be favorites over a much stronger, far less injured team in the Bengals?

Again: I’m not a brainiac regarding sports. I don’t pretend to be one.

Yet I felt the Bills, for whatever reason, were looking very beatable going into the playoffs if only because of the very hard time they had dealing with a Dolphin team that was coming into the game against them looking very ravaged by injury.

So… who makes it to the Superbowl?

I have to say the Eagles, what I saw of them against the Giants, looked like a pretty damn fearsome machine. They go up against the 49ers next week and while they likely will have a tougher game on their hands, I suspect they’ll emerge to be the NFC team to go to the Superbowl.

On the AFC side, we have the Bengals going up against the Kansas City Chiefs. Normally, I would give the nod to the Chiefs. However, their quarterback -and one of the very best quarterbacks playing today- Patrick Mahomes, sustained a high ankle sprain in the game against the Jaguars and it is my understanding this can hobble his mobility quite a bit, should he be able to play (he stated he will).

Given this, I have to say the Bengals may have the advantage.

For the Superbowl, if it’s Eagles versus the Bengals I would give the edge to the Eagles. If it’s Eagles versus Chiefs, Eagles again.

If it’s 49ers versus Bengals? Bengals. 49ers versus Chiefs… I would go Chiefs.

Let’s see how it goes!