By the Numbers: NFC, AFC Conference Championship Sunday

The NFC Championship game is set as the San Francisco 49ers and the Philadelphia Eagles clash on Sunday in what will be just the second playoff meeting between the two franchises since the 1996 wild-card game.

While the two division champs did not meet during the 2022 campaign, the 49ers and Eagles met in Week 2 of the 2021 season. It was then when newly-appointed Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni would lose his first game at the helm and the first of what turned into a three-game skid.

Engineering the 49ers offence then was former New England Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who threw for a touchdown and rushed for one. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts threw for 190 yards and rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown.

The quarterbacking matchup entering Sunday's game at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field will look drastically different for San Francisco. With Garoppolo dealing with a foot injury, it will be former Iowa State pivot Brock Purdy under centre again.

Nicknamed "Mr. Irrelevant" - a popular moniker given to the last pick of the NFL Draft - the 23-year-old rookie has been anything but, as he has yet to lose an NFL game. With his win over the Dallas Cowboys last weekend, Purdy joined Ben Roethlisberger as the only starting quarterbacks to win each of their first seven stars.

Entering Sunday's contest, Hurts (24) and Purdy (23) will be a combined 47 years and 208 days old on gameday and will be the youngest starting quarterback matchup in the Conference Championship round.

History does not bode well for rookie quarterbacks in the conference championship round. In 2009, New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez completed 56 per cent of his passes for a touchdown and two interceptions in the Jets' 30-17 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. A year before that, Joe Flacco was picked off three times and sacked three times in a 23-14 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Purdy and Hurts have not met in the NFL, but have a history dating back to their collegiate days when Purdy's Cyclones and Hurts' Oklahoma Sooners met in Norman, Okla., in Big 12 Conference play during the 2019 season. The future NFL starters went toe-to-toe, with Purdy throwing for five touchdowns and 282 yards. The Queen Creek, Ariz., native also ran for 55 yards and a touchdown. On the other sideline, Hurts countered with five total touchdowns of his own (three passing and two rushing).

Though the 49ers, led by Purdy, Deebo Samuel, and the myriad of other offensive weapons at their disposal, and Hurts' Eagles, led by A.J. Brown, Dallas Goedert and DeVonta Smith, have electrifying offences, it is the defensive side of the ball that's played a large role as to why they find themselves playing football in late January.

The 49ers (300.6 YPG allowed) and Eagles (301.5 YPG allowed) ranked first and second in total defence this season. The last time the two best teams in total defence met in the conference  hampionship was in 2008, when the Steelers (first) beat the Ravens (second).

The Eagles started the season 8-0 and were the last unbeaten team in NFL. No team that was the last unbeaten has won the Super Bowl since the Colts in 2006, after they started that season 9-0.

After starting the season .500, The 49ers have won 12 straight games, which is tied for the second-longest win streak in franchise history when including the playoffs.

The Eagles enter Sunday seeking their fourth Super Bowl appearance and first since winning Super Bowl 2018, while the 49ers look for their seventh appearance and first league title since 1994.

In Kansas City, an injured Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are preparing to face Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals in a rematch of last year's AFC Championship, a game the Bengals won 27-24 to earn a trip to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1988.

Sunday marks the second all-time meeting between the Bengals and the Chiefs in the playoffs, with the Bengals holding a 1-0 record. Burrow enters with an undefeated record head-to-head against Mahomes (3-0), and is the only quarterback to beat Mahomes in three straight games. No other quarterback has bested the 2018 NFL MVP four times.

The Bengals have been road warriors since Burrow's arrival in The Queen City, posting a 5-1 record overall and 3-0 on the road in the postseason. The Bengals had an NFL-worst .263 win percentage in the playoffs before Burrow’s first playoff appearance.

After suffering a torn ACL and MCL in Week 10 of his rookie season against the Washington Commanders, Burrow has steadily become one of the NFL's top quarterbacks. Last season Burrow helped lead the Bengals to the Super Bowl, and now he looks to join former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson as the only QBs to make the Super Bowl twice in their first three seasons.

The Chiefs are hosting the AFC Championship for a fifth straight season, the longest streak hosting a conference championship and have gone 2-2 in the four prior games.

While Mahomes and the Chiefs led NFL in scoring in the regular season, the No. 1 scoring offence hasn’t made the Super Bowl since the 2016 Atlanta Falcons, who famously blew a 28-3 lead over the New England Patriots. The No. 1 scoring offence hasn't won the Super Bowl since 2009 Drew-Brees led New Orleans Saints.

Should Mahomes and the Chiefs rewrite history, the former Texas Tech Red Raider pivot will join Tom Brady as the only QBs to start the Super Bowl three times in their first six seasons.

A key to accomplishing that feat is the utilization of tight end Travis Kelce, whose 14 receiving touchdowns in his postseason career are the third most in NFL history behind Jerry Rice (22) and Rob Gronkowski (15). Kelce's  14 receptions in divisional playoffs are the most by a tight end in a playoff game, and his 120 career playoff receptions are second to only Rice (151).