The NFL football season is down to it's final four and let's hope it lives up to the excitement from last weekends divisional playoff games. My predictions before the season started had the 49ers and Patriots in the Superbowl. San Francisco and New England are both in their championship games, but will I change my predictions?

No, I am going to stick with them!

The NFC Championship game starts things off on Sunday. Atlanta is the number one seed and seems to get little respect. Matt Ryan, much like Joe Flacco, are young quarterbacks that are on the verge of becoming elite level QB's in the NFL. Atlanta has plenty of weapons on offense with Julio Jones, Roddy White, Michael Turner and soon to be hall-of-fame tight end Tony Gonzalez. They will need all of their weapons on offense to go against one of the toughest defenses in the league. The 49ers are tough on defense with Patrick Willis, Aldon Smith and Justin Smith. Colin Kaepernick is an exciting, young quarterback and the 49ers offense has a nice mix of veterans with running back Frank Gore, tight-end Vernon Davis and wide receiver Michael Crabtree. I'll take San Francisco 27 to 23.

Now the AFC Championship game. New England and Baltimore again. These teams have played some very close playoff games recently. The Patriots offense has been rolling but they will be playing without 'Gronk'. It does look like Danny Woodhead will be back from an injured thumb and that will add to a solid rotation of running backs with Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen. The receiving group is solid with Wes Welker and Aaron Hernandez. The key to the offense has been the offense line solid play and one of the best quarterbacks ever, Tom Brady. The Patriots defense has vastly improved since the beginning of the year, led by nose tackle, Vince Wilfork. The linebacker corp with Jerod Mayo, Brandon Spikes and Dont'a Hightower. The secondary has improved since the arrival of Aqib Talib.

Baltimore is a very good team. It's their second AFC championship games in as many years, just like New England. Joe Flacco has been a solid quarterback in the playoffs and has a great deep ball and big wide receivers that will poise a problem from the New England secondary. Ray Rice is a good running back and a weapon as a receiver as well. Veterans on defense with Ray Lewis and Ed Reed have caused problems for Tom Brady in prior games. I think this game will be closer than most expects think. I'll take New England 30 to 24. What are you predictions?

We'll have both games on B-98.5. Pregame coverage starts at 2, followed by the NFC game at 3 and the AFC game at 6:30. Championship weekend on B-98.5 is brought to you by:

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