Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce wants to make sure his girlfriend Taylor Swift is not the only person in their relationship to bring silverware home this week.

Pop star Swift created history on Sunday by becoming the first artist to win a fourth Grammy for Album of the Year for her Midnights release.

It is Kelce’s turn to shine this week as he is part of the Chiefs’ squad who are gunning for back-to-back Super Bowl glory against the San Francisco 49ers.

The 34-year-old, who has won NFL’s biggest match twice before, is keen to contribute to the trophies on the mantelpiece.

“She’s unbelievable,” the Chiefs star tight end said at the Super Bowl’s ‘opening night’ in Las Vegas.

“She’s rewriting the history books herself. I told her I’ll have to hold up my end of the bargain and come home with some hardware, too.”

Kelce’s relationship with Swift has brought more attention to the NFL in recent months and Kelce is embracing it.

“She’s definitely brought a lot of new faces to the game, and it’s been fun to experience that,” he said.

“Taylor has an unbelievable fanbase that follows her and supports her throughout her life.

“It’s been fun to kind of gather the Swifties into Chiefs Kingdom and open them up to the football world and sports world. It’s been cool to experience that.”

Kelce and the Chiefs, led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, are appearing in their fourth Super Bowl in five years and are looking to become the first team to win back-to-back titles since Tom Brady’s New England Patriots in 2005.

Brady ended his career with a record seven Super Bowl rings, but Mahomes is not thinking about matching history.

“I’m not even close to halfway, so I haven’t put a lot of thought into it,” Mahomes told ESPN.

“So right now it’s do whatever I can to beat a great 49ers team and try to get that third ring.

“Then if you ask me that question in 15 years, I’ll see if I can get close to seven, but seven seems like a long ways away still.”

Tom Brady won a record sixth Super Bowl as he led the New England Patriots to a 13-3 victory over the Los Angeles Rams on this day in 2019.

Veteran quarterback Brady, playing in his ninth championship game, and Patriots head coach Bill Belichick masterminded victory in the 53rd edition of the NFL showdown at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta to add another Vince Lombardi Trophy to their successes in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2014 and 2016.

The 41-year-old threw for 262 yards and engineered the game’s only touchdown drive as Sony Michel punched the ball in to give New England the lead midway through the fourth quarter.

Starting at their own 31, Brady found Rob Gronkowski with a short pass for 19 yards, then out of the gun, hit MVP Julian Edelman for a 13-yard completion.

Now at the Rams’ 38-yard line, Brady found Rex Burkhead with a short seven-yard pass before picking out Gronkowski again and watching him beat two defenders to finish two yards shy.

From the only redzone visit of the night, Michel took advantage of good blocking to score his sixth post-season touchdown.

Speaking afterwards, Brady had no intention of calling it a day after helping the Patriots tie the Pittsburgh Steelers’ record for the most championships.

He told CBS: “It doesn’t change anything. It’s been a great year. I’m so happy for my team-mates. This is a dream come true for all of us.”

Brady’s 20-year stay in New England came to a close when he announced his departure in March 2020, but his love affair with the Super Bowl did not.

In February 2021, he steered the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 31-9 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs at the age of 43, throwing three touchdown passes in the process.

Two years later, Brady announced his retirement and insisted he would not change his mind as he had done 12 months earlier.

His sporting career took an unexpected and sideways turn in August of the same year when he became a minority owner at Sky Bet Championship club Birmingham.

The Washington Commanders have reached an agreement with Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to become their new head coach, multiple outlets reported Thursday.

Quinn will get a second opportunity to run a team after previously serving six seasons as the Atlanta Falcons' head coach from 2015-20. He led the Falcons to a Super Bowl in his second season in charge in 2016, but was fired after an 0-5 start in 2020 that followed up two consecutive losing campaigns.

The 53-year-old takes over for another coach who previously guided a team to a Super Bowl in Ron Rivera, who was let go at the conclusion of this past season after Washington struggled to a 4-13 record. Rivera was the head coach during the Carolina Panthers' NFC championship season of 2015. 

Quinn becomes the latest addition to a franchise that has undergone a slew of changes in the past year, beginning with long-time owner Daniel Snyder selling the team to an investment group headed by Josh Harris, the managing partner of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL's New Jersey Devils, in July. 

The Commanders also have a new general manager in place after hiring Adam Peters from the San Francisco 49ers' front office in January.

Quinn gets to stay in the NFC's East Division after restoring his head coaching credentials with a successful stint orchestrating a defence that helped Dallas reach the playoffs in all three of his seasons there. The Cowboys ranked fifth in the NFL in both points and total yards allowed in 2023, while their 93 takeaways during Quinn's tenure are the most in the league over that three-year stretch.

The veteran assistant also had an excellent run as the Seattle Seahawks' defensive coordinator from 2013-14, helping that team win a Super Bowl in the first of those seasons.

Quinn compiled a 43-42 overall record in Atlanta and led the Falcons to two play-off appearances, the first of which nearly culminated in the franchise's first NFL title. In one of the most memorable games in recent NFL history, Atlanta infamously blew a 28-3 third-quarter lead in Super Bowl LI as the New England Patriots rallied for a stunning 34-28 overtime win.

He now joins a franchise that has gone 18 consecutive seasons since its last play-off victory in 2005, the third-longest active streak in the NFL, and has reached the post-season only once in the past eight seasons. 

Despite that recent lack of success, the Commanders' vacancy was considered an attractive job due to the team's newfound stability in ownership and the front office and a wealth of available salary cap space to work with this offseason.

Washington also owns the No. 2 overall pick in this year's draft and is in position to select one of the three quarterbacks viewed as potential franchise players, Heisman Trophy winners Caleb Williams (USC) and Jayden Daniels (LSU) and North Carolina's Drake Maye.

The Seattle Seahawks have appointed Mike Macdonald as the youngest head coach in the NFL.

The 36-year-old, who has been defensive co-ordinator at the Baltimore Ravens for the past two seasons, replaces Pete Carroll who steered the Seahawks to their only Super Bowl victory during his 14 years in charge.

“We’re going to have a lot of fun, we’re going to work our tails off, and it’s going to be an incredible ride,” Macdonald told the team’s website, describing his appointment as “an honour”.

“We’re going to be here for a long time and we’re going to win a lot of football games.”

He said he was drawn to Seattle by the people and “to bring a championship back to Seattle”.

Macdonald started coaching at the University of Georgia while still a student, starting as an intern at the Ravens and working his way up before spending a season as defensive co-ordinator at the University of Michigan in 2021.

He returned in the same role for the Ravens, shaping the dominant defence which took them to the top seed in the AFC and within one game of the Super Bowl.

Carroll, who was moved to an advisory role with the Seahawks at the end of the season, was the oldest active coach in the NFL at 72.

The Seattle Seahawks have reached an agreement with Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald to become the team's next head coach, NFL.com reported Wednesday.

Macdonald, who helped the Ravens to an NFL-best 13-4 record during the regular season and an appearance in the AFC championship game, will reportedly receive a six-year contract to take over a Seattle team that went 9-8 in 2023 but just missed the playoffs over long-time predecessor Pete Carroll. 

The Seahawks parted ways with Carroll earlier this month, which marked the end of an outstanding 14-year run that included 10 post-season appearances and the franchise's only Super Bowl title during the 2013 season.

Macdonald, 36, becomes the youngest current active head coach and will be replacing the oldest one in Carroll, who turned 72 in September.

The Seahawks' decision culminates a meteoric rise through the coaching ranks for Macdonald, who spent two seasons as the Ravens' defensive coordinator under John Harbaugh after serving one year in the same role at the University of Michigan for Harbaugh's brother, Jim. 

Macdonald quickly assembled one of the league's fiercest defences in Baltimore, where he previously spent six seasons as an assistant from 2014-20 before joining the recently named Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh at Michigan.

The Ravens allowed the third-fewest points in the NFL in 2022 and were even better this past season, as Macdonald's unit yielded a league-low 16.5 points per game and topped the NFL with 60 sacks. 

Defence was a problem for the 2023 Seahawks, who ranked 30th of the NFL's 32 teams in total yards allowed and 25th in points allowed. Seattle was 8-2 when surrendering 27 points or fewer but went 1-6 when permitting 28 or more.

The Seahawks were one of two teams - along with the Washington Commanders - that had not filled a head coaching vacancy when conference championship games were taking place this past weekend.

Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was considered a top candidate for the jobs in Seattle and Washington, which has yet to complete its search, before informing both teams on Tuesday that he will remain in his current position. 

The San Francisco 49ers overturned a 17-point half-time deficit to book a Super Bowl clash with the defending champions, the Kansas City Chiefs.

The 49ers scored 27 unanswered points as they beat the Detroit Lions 34-31 in the NFC Championship game to book a trip to Las Vegas.

It is their second Super Bowl appearance in five seasons having lost to the Chiefs four years ago.

Victory – and the chance to win a Super Bowl for the first time in 29 years – looked a long way off when Jameson Williams ended the opening drive with a 42-yard touchdown run and David Montgomery went in from close range to give the Lions a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

Christian McCaffrey cut the gap from two yards early in the second quarter, but Jahmyr Gibbs ran in from 15 yards and Michael Badgley added a field goal to stretch the Lions’ cushion.

The game swung after the interval as the 49ers scored 17 points in eight minutes.

Jake Moody landed a field goal before Brandon Aiyuk caught a six-yard touchdown pass from Brock Purdy – after the pair had connected on a 51-yard throw via the face mask of the Lions’ Kindle Vildor – and McCaffrey went in again to level the scores.

Moody kicked them ahead for the first time before Elijah Mitchell’s three-yard run stretched the advantage, Williams’ late score leaving the Lions too little time to create another chance and ruing two failed fourth down attempts in kickable range.

“We played as bad of a first half as we could,” coach Kyle Shanahan told Fox. “It’s been a long year to get to this point and we got it done today.

“It was hard at the beginning, but the character we have in our team, the type of guys we have, we can’t wait to get to Vegas, man.”

The Chiefs will defend their Super Bowl title after beating the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 in the AFC Championship game.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed his first 11 pass attempts and threw for 241 yards and a touchdown, but it was the Chiefs defence which was largely responsible for securing a fourth Super Bowl appearance in five years.

The Ravens were restricted to just 10 points on home soil and quarterback Lamar Jackson was intercepted in the end zone in the fourth quarter as he attempted to round off what would have been a 99-yard drive.

Mahomes told CBS: “God put a lot of adversity in our way this year and we accepted the challenge and we’re better for it.

“It’s been a heck of a year, we’re not done yet, but this is the way to get there.”

The Chiefs had reached the AFC Championship game for a sixth straight season, but did so by winning on the road for the first time with victory at the Buffalo Bills last week.

“We’ve been underdogs for the last few games but we never feel like underdogs,” Mahomes added.

“We’ve got a lot of guys in this team that know how to win and when the play-offs came around I knew we were going to make it happen.

“Now we’re in the Super Bowl and the job’s not done. We’ve got to go out there to Vegas and play a great team and see if we can get the Super Bowl.”

Kansas City, who will bid to become the NFL’s first back-to-back champions since the New England Patriots in the 2003 and 2004 seasons, signalled their attacking intent from the off against the Ravens, refusing to punt on fourth and two on their opening drive.

That allowed Mahomes to keep the drive alive with a 13-yard completion to Travis Kelce – who was watched from the stands once more by girlfriend Taylor Swift – and the same pair combined on a 19-yard touchdown throw to give the Chiefs an early 7-0 lead.

The Ravens responded in kind as Jackson ran for 21 yards on fourth and one from his own 34 and three plays later Jackson hit Zay Flowers from 30 yards to level the scores, only for the Chiefs to compile a 16-play, 75-yard drive capped off by a two-yard touchdown run from Isiah Pacheco.

A frenetic start also included Jackson recording a 13-yard completion to himself after reacting quickest to catch his own pass after it was tipped at the line of scrimmage, but the only other score in the first half – a 52-yard field goal from Harrison Butker – gave the Chiefs a 17-7 lead.

The contest was arguably decided on two key plays at the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth, with Flowers squandering the momentum of a 54-yard reception by taunting cornerback L’Jarius Sneed and incurring a 15-yard penalty.

Sneed had the last laugh in the first play of the fourth quarter, punching the ball loose as Flowers dived for the end zone, and when Deon Bush intercepted Jackson on the Ravens’ next drive, the game was effectively over.

The Kansas City Chiefs will defend their Super Bowl title in Las Vegas after beating the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 in the AFC Championship game.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed his first 11 pass attempts and threw for 241 yards and a touchdown, but it was the Chiefs defence which was largely responsible for securing a fourth Super Bowl appearance in five years.

The Ravens were restricted to just 10 points on home soil and quarterback Lamar Jackson was intercepted in the end zone in the fourth quarter as he attempted to round off what would have been a 99-yard drive.

Mahomes told CBS: “God put a lot of adversity in our way this year and we accepted the challenge and we’re better for it.

“It’s been a heck of a year, we’re not done yet, but this is the way to get there.”

The Chiefs had reached the AFC Championship game for a sixth straight season, but did so by winning on the road for the first time with victory at the Buffalo Bills last week.

“We’ve been underdogs for the last few games but we never feel like underdogs,” Mahomes added.

“We’ve got a lot of guys in this team that know how to win and when the play-offs came around I knew we were going to make it happen.

“Now we’re in the Super Bowl and the job’s not done. We’ve got to go out there to Vegas and play a great team and see if we can get the Super Bowl.”

Kansas City, who will bid to become the NFL’s first back-to-back champions since the New England Patriots in the 2003 and 2004 seasons, signalled their attacking intent from the off against the Ravens, refusing to punt on fourth and two on their opening drive.

That allowed Mahomes to keep the drive alive with a 13-yard completion to Travis Kelce – who was watched from the stands once more by girlfriend Taylor Swift – and the same pair combined on a 19-yard touchdown throw to give the Chiefs an early 7-0 lead.

The Ravens responded in kind as Jackson ran for 21 yards on fourth and one from his own 34 and three plays later Jackson hit Zay Flowers from 30 yards to level the scores, only for the Chiefs to compile a 16-play, 75-yard drive capped off by a two-yard touchdown run from Isiah Pacheco.

A frenetic start also included Jackson recording a 13-yard completion to himself after reacting quickest to catch his own pass after it was tipped at the line of scrimmage, but the only other score in the first half – a 52-yard field goal from Harrison Butker – gave the Chiefs a 17-7 lead.

The contest was arguably decided on two key plays at the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth, with Flowers squandering the momentum of a 54-yard reception by taunting cornerback L’Jarius Sneed and incurring a 15-yard penalty.

Sneed had the last laugh in the first play of the fourth quarter, punching the ball loose as Flowers dived for the end zone, and when Deon Bush intercepted Jackson on the Ravens’ next drive, the game was effectively over.

The Atlanta Falcons have named Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris as their new head coach ahead of six-time Super Bowl winner Bill Belichick.

Morris is the first full-time black head coach in the franchise’s history after he filled the same role on an interim basis in 2020.

“This is a historic day for the Atlanta Falcons. Raheem emerged from a field of excellent candidates and is the right leader to take our team into the future,” owner Arthur Blank said.

Belichick left the Patriots after finishing the AFC East season with a 4-13 record, bringing an end to his 24-season reign.

Raheem Morris will be getting a second chance with the Atlanta Falcons.

Multiple outlets reported Thursday that the Falcons will hire the Los Angeles Rams' defensive coordinator as their next head coach following an extensive search that included several high-profile candidates.

Morris returns to Atlanta, where he went 4-7 as the Falcons' interim head coach in 2020 after the team fired Dan Quinn after an 0-5 start. The 47-year-old spent the previous three seasons directing the Rams' defence and helped Los Angeles to a victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI in his first season there.

The Falcons opted not to retain Morris following the 2020 campaign and instead hired former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who went 7-10 in three straight seasons before being dismissed on Jan. 8.

Atlanta chose Morris after interviewing over a dozen candidates that included six-time Super Bowl winning coach Bill Belichick and former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, who agreed to become the Los Angeles Chargers' head coach on Wednesday.

This will be Morris' second opportunity to be a permanent head coach, as he guided the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2009-11. The Bucs went 10-6 in his second season at the helm in 2010, but slipped to a 4-12 record the following season and replaced Morris with Greg Schiano.

Morris compiled a 17-31 record in Tampa Bay and is 21-38 overall as an NFL head coach.

Following his dismissal from Tampa Bay, Morris spent three seasons as the defensive backs coach for the Washington Redskins before joining Quinn's staff in Atlanta in 2015. Morris was the wide receivers coach for the Falcons' 2016 NFC championship team that lost to Belichick's New England Patriots in the Super Bowl after infamously blowing a 28-3 lead.

Morris was part of another Super Bowl champion team when he broke into the NFL coaching ranks as a defensive assistant for the Buccaneers in 2002.

The Falcons are the sixth team to fill a head coaching vacancy this offseason, and four of those hires have been minority candidates. Morris, New England's Jerod Mayo and Antonio Pierce of the Las Vegas Raiders are all Black, while new Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales is of Mexican descent.

Two teams, the Washington Commanders and Seattle Seahawks, are still in the process of hiring a head coach.

The Carolina Panthers have agreed to hire Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales to be their next head coach, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Thursday.

Canales will take the reins in Carolina despite having only one year of experience as an NFL coordinator.

Canales will be the seventh head coach for the Panthers since David Tepper took over as owner of the team in 2018.

Carolina fired Frank Reich in late November after a 1-10 start in his first season as head coach and replaced him with special teams coordinator Chris Tabor, who went 1-5 down the stretch.

The Panthers’ 2-15 record was the worst in the NFL, but Carolina does not own the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft because that selection was traded to the Chicago Bears as part of the deal that saw the Panthers move up to No. 1 in last year’s draft.

Carolina took quarterback Bryce Young first overall in 2023, and he will now work with Canales after the 42-year-old helped Tampa Bay win the NFC South title and advance to the divisional round of the play-offs this season.

Canales began his NFL coaching career with the Seattle Seahawks in 2010 and remained with the club until joining Tampa Bay in February 2023.

In 2022 as Seattle’s quarterbacks coach, Canales worked with Geno Smith en route to the signal-caller winning the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award.

Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield is a finalist for the award this season.

Jim Harbaugh wants to win the Super Bowl.

He can't win one coaching in the college ranks.

Harbaugh will reportedly become the next coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, leaving Michigan just over two weeks after leading his alma mater to the NCAA national championship.

The 60-year-old had his second interview with the Chargers on Wednesday and the two sides agreed to a contract, according to multiple sources.

Harbaugh, who played for the Chargers in 1999 and 2000, takes over for a Los Angeles team that fired Brandon Staley on December 15, a day after the Chargers were crushed 63-21 by the Las Vegas Raiders.

Harbaugh was one of the hottest names for a possible head coaching job after many speculated he was looking for a new challenge after achieving the highest level of success at the college ranks.

This will be his second stint coaching in the NFL after he was in charge of the San Francisco 49ers from 2011-2014. In those four seasons, he led the 49ers to three play-off berths, two conference title games and an appearance in the 2012 Super Bowl, where he lost to the Baltimore Ravens, coached by his brother, John.

The Chargers, meanwhile, have only made the play-offs three times in the last 14 seasons, and haven't won the AFC West since 2009.

Harbaugh, who spent the last eight years at Michigan, where he went 86-25, will get to coach one of the NFL's top young quarterbacks in Justin Herbert.

Herbert helped the Chargers to a 10-7 record and play-off berth in 2022, but he broke a finger on his throwing hand late this past season and the team stumbled to a 5-12 finish.

The Tennesee Titans are in the process of finalising a contract with Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan to be the team's next head coach, multiple outlets reported Monday.

Callahan will be replacing Mike Vrabel, who led the franchise to three consecutive playoff appearances from 2019-21 but was fired by owner Amy Adams Strunk on Jan. 9 following a second straight losing campaign.

The 39-year-old Callahan spent the past five seasons as the Bengals' offensive coordinator and helped Cincinnati to back-to-back appearances in the AFC championship game in 2021 and 2022. The Bengals defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2021 edition before losing to the Rams in Super Bowl 56.

Callahan, the son of former NFL and college head coach Bill Callahan, is also credited for assisting in developing Joe Burrow into one of the NFL's premier quarterbacks over the course of the 2020 No. 1 overall pick's four seasons in Cincinnati. 

He'll now be overseeing the progress of a new young quarterback in Tennessee, which selected Will Levis in the second round of the 2023 draft and had the rookie start nine games during Vrabel's final season.

Callahan has been an NFL assistant since 2010. He spent the first six years of his coaching career with the Denver Broncos and was on the offensive staff during that team's 2015 run to a Super Bowl title in iconic quarterback Peyton Manning's final NFL season. 

After stints as a quarterbacks coach with the Detroit Lions (2016-17) and then-Oakland Raiders (2018), Callahan joined the Bengals as part of current head coach Zac Taylor's initial staff in 2019.

Burrow emerged into an elite passer under Callahan's tutelage, as the former Heisman Trophy winner threw for a Bengals' season-record 4,611 passing yards in 2021 and set another team season best with 35 touchdown passes in 2022. Burrow's career completion rate of 68.0 per cent is the highest of any quarterback in NFL history with at least 1,500 pass attempts.

Callahan takes over a Titans team that finished last in the AFC South with a 6-11 record this past season and often struggled to move the football. Tennessee's average of 289 total yards per game ranked 28th in the NFL and it finished 27th in total points.

Three of this offseason's eight head coaching vacancies have now been filled with Callahan's hiring. The New England Patriots promoted assistant Jerod Mayo to replace the legendary Bill Belichick on Jan. 12, while the Las Vegas Raiders removed the interim tag from head coach Antonio Pierce last week. 

The Kansas City Chiefs edged past the Buffalo Bills 27-24 to reach the AFC Championship.

Bills kicker Tyler Bass had an opportunity to level the scores in the final two minutes, but his 44-yard field goal attempt missed to the right.

Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco grabbed the crucial score at the start of the fourth quarter, going in from four yards.

Travis Kelce had earlier caught two touchdown passes from Patrick Mahomes as the lead changed hands five times.

Quarterback Josh Allen ran for two touchdowns for the Bills, as well as connecting with Khalil Shakir from 13 yards.

The Chiefs will now head to the Baltimore Ravens to play in their sixth straight AFC title game.

The Detroit Lions advanced to the NFC Championship game for the first time since 1991 with a 31-23 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Jared Goff threw for 287 yards and two touchdowns and Jahmyr Gibbs ran for 74 yards and a score as the Lions, who have never played in a Super Bowl, set up an NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers next weekend.

Ford Field was fired up before kick-off and the atmosphere went up another notch when the first Bucs drive ended with Baker Mayfield throwing an interception into the arms of CJ Gardner-Johnson.

The two teams traded field goals before Detroit got rolling behind rookie tight end Sam LaPorta, who had three straight catches of 13, two and 15 yards to get them upfield before Goff threw a nine-yard touchdown to Josh Reynolds.

Tampa Bay responded late in the half, with Mayfield hitting Mike Evans from 29 yards to get the Bucs to the two-yard line before throwing a touchdown pass to Cade Otton.

Detroit were back on top with 3:51 left in the third quarter when they went for it fourth down from a yard out, with Craig Reynolds powering through, but Tampa Bay again found a response at the end of the quarter as an off-balance Mayfield found Rachaad White with a 12-yard touchdown.

The see-saw continued as Gibbs ran in from 31 yards to put Detroit back on top and they finally broke the pattern when Tampa Bay were forced to punt and Goff hit Amon-Ra St Brown with a perfect nine-yard touchdown pass.

The Bucs were not done yet as Evans reeled in a 16-yard touchdown pass and they had the ball back inside the final two minutes, only for Mayfield to be picked off by Derrick Barnes to spark huge celebrations in Detroit.

The Detroit Lions advanced to the NFC Championship game for the first time since 1991 with a 31-23 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Jared Goff threw for 287 yards and two touchdowns and Jahmyr Gibbs ran for 74 yards and a score as the Lions, who have never played in a Super Bowl, set up an NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers next weekend.

Ford Field was fired up before kick-off and the atmosphere went up another notch when the first Bucs drive ended with Baker Mayfield throwing an interception into the arms of CJ Gardner-Johnson.

The two teams traded field goals before Detroit got rolling behind rookie tight end Sam LaPorta, who had three straight catches of 13, two and 15 yards to get them upfield before Goff threw a nine-yard touchdown to Josh Reynolds.

Tampa Bay responded late in the half, with Mayfield hitting Mike Evans from 29 yards to get the Bucs to the two-yard line before throwing a touchdown pass to Cade Otton.

Detroit were back on top with 3:51 left in the third quarter when they went for it fourth down from a yard out, with Craig Reynolds powering through, but Tampa Bay again found a response at the end of the quarter as an off-balance Mayfield found Rachaad White with a 12-yard touchdown.

The see-saw continued as Gibbs ran in from 31 yards to put Detroit back on top and they finally broke the pattern when Tampa Bay were forced to punt and Goff hit Amon-Ra St Brown with a perfect nine-yard touchdown pass.

The Bucs were not done yet as Evans reeled in a 16-yard touchdown pass and they had the ball back inside the final two minutes, only for Mayfield to be picked off by Derrick Barnes to spark huge celebrations in Detroit.

A late Christian McCaffrey touchdown gave the San Francisco 49ers a 24-21 win over the Green Bay Packers and moved them one win from the Super Bowl.

The 49ers, the number one seeds in the NFC, had trailed 21-14 heading into the fourth quarter.

Jake Moody cut the gap with a 52-yard field goal before McCaffrey crashed his way over from six yards with 67 seconds on the clock.

Brock Purdy’s 32-yard touchdown pass to George Kittle had given the 49ers a 7-6 interval lead, the Packers responding after the break as Jordan Love threw touchdown passes to Bo Melton and Tucker Kraft either side of McCaffrey’s first score of the night.

The 49ers had not come from behind to win throughout the regular season, but Purdy drove them into position for the decisive score after rookie Anders Carlson had missed a field goal from 41 yards for Green Bay.

In the AFC, the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens saw off the Houston Texans 34-10.

Lamar Jackson threw for two touchdown passes, running for two more as the Ravens pulled away in the second half.

The two teams swapped field goals in the first quarter, Jackson finding Nelson Agholor from three yards in the second quarter before Steven Sims’ 67-yard punt return tied things up at 10-10.

Jackson eased the Ravens in front in the third quarter as he ran in on a score from 15 yards.

The Ravens pulled away in the final quarter, Jackson finding Isaiah Likely from 15 yards and going in himself from eight yards. Nick Tucker capped off the victory with a field goal from 43 yards late on.

The Ravens will host the Buffalo Bills or defending champion Kansas City Chiefs, who meet on Monday, in the AFC Championship game.

The 49ers will entertain the Detroit Lions or Tampa Bay Buccaneers to decide the NFC champions.