AFC Championship: Most appearances, wins, losses
The Kansas City Chiefs are heading to their sixth consecutive AFC Championship Game, but until 2018, they had only made it this far once in 48 years. What other teams have racked up appearances?
This weekend’s AFC championship game will be the first playoff game since the 2010 Wild Card round between the two teams, but also a contest between sides that are beginning to make an appearance in the postseason as a habit.
The Chiefs & Ravens set for the AFC Championship
This weekend, the Ravens will host the Kansas City in Baltimore for their only second playoff game. Before the Chiefs signed Patrick Mahomes as their starting quarterback, they had only made it to an AFC Conference Final on one occasion between 1970 and 2018. With Mahomes in the middle, it’s now been six years in a row.
The Ravens are set to make their fifth-ever Conference Championship game appearance and their second since 2012. However, the bigger story is the incredible performance of Lamar Jackson, who is leading the MVP race thanks to his phenomenal performances this year. After defeating the Texans led by C.J. Stroud, the team is in incredible form, and many analysts believe they have what it takes to beat the Kansas City team.
Who has the most AFC Championship game appearances?
Since its inception in 1970, a handful of teams have dominated the conference’s biggest game. With that, let’s begin with the team which has made the most appearances. If you didn’t know, the team at the top of the list is the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have a grand total of 16 appearances in the AFC Championship game. Yet, though they lead in appearances, they don’t lead in wins. That honor belongs to the New England Patriots, who fall just one behind the Patriots in appearances with 15. The Pats have a total of 11 wins in those 15 appearances. We imagine you can already guess the name of a certain QB who also spearheaded many of those wins.
That’s right, it was Tom Brady who helped the Patriots to the bulk of their conference titles - nine out of 11 to be precise. It’s worth mentioning that six out of those nine wins with Brady as the starter went on to be Super Bowl victories as well. Conversely, though the Steelers have the most appearances, they also have the most losses, with a not-so-nice total of eight. On the other hand, we’re betting that Pittsburgh fans will remind folks that they also have the most AFC Championship wins with eight.
Remember to join us for our coverage of this year’s AFC Championship game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday 29th, January at 3:00 p.m. ET.