The NFL “Final Four” is set, and this weekend’s games will decide who faces off in Super Bowl LVIII, which will kick off Feb. 11 on CBS, Nickelodeon and Paramount+. The AFC Championship is undoubtedly the game of the week, as Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens host Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Baltimore is coming off of a dominant victory over the Houston Texans, while the Chiefs upset the Bills in Buffalo in what was Mahomes’ first-ever postseason road start, not counting Super Bowls.
Jackson has won each of his past four starts by 14+ points. Mahomes has lost just four starts by 14+ points in his entire career. Which star quarterback will shine brighter this weekend? As we do every week, we’ve collected all of the best picks and gambling content from CBSSports.com and SportsLine and put them in one place, so you can get picks against the spread from our CBS Sports experts as well as additional feature content for each game, including plays from top SportsLine experts and the SportsLine Projection Model, best bets from our staff and more. Let’s jump in.
All NFL odds via SportsLine consensus odds.
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Kansas City Chiefs at Baltimore Ravens
Time: Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (CBS), stream on Paramount+ (click here)
Open: Ravens -3.5, O/U 45
Pete Prisco’s pick
“This is Lamar Jackson vs. Patrick Mahomes, the likely MVP this season for a second time against a guy who has won two already. The difference is Mahomes has Super Bowl rings, while Jackson is just trying to get there.
“The Chiefs won a tough road game at Buffalo on Sunday, but the defense had some issues with the Buffalo run game. If that’s a problem against Jackson and the Ravens, it will be a long day. Jackson will run it, but he will hit shots off it.
“I think that Chiefs defense will play better this week, which will force Jackson to win it with his legs but mostly his right arm. He is more than capable.
“As for Mahomes, he will be facing a defense that throws a lot of looks at a quarterback. But he’s seen them all — and had success against them all. I think he will be patient here as the Chiefs run it and he takes his shots off the run. The Chiefs did a nice job in protection last week, and that will carry over, thanks to the run game.
“Look for both quarterbacks to play well, but I think the postseason experience for Mahomes will shine through. Look for the Chiefs to advance to another Super Bowl as Mahomes has some late-game magic to win it.”
To read Prisco’s breakdown of the NFC Championship game, click here.
R.J. White’s pick
“I just think the Ravens are in a much higher class than the Chiefs and frankly, anybody else in the AFC and even the 49ers on the other side. I think that they are the best team in the league right now, which they proved against the 49ers a few weeks back. Their offense did a great job adjusting to that extreme Houston blitz last week. Houston came in with a great game plan to slow down the Ravens offense, and it worked for a little bit, and then they completely destroyed them once that game got going. So really showed me even if you bring in a good game plan, they can overcome it, they can make some adjustments, and I think they will be able to do that against Spagnuolo here. They’re top three in yards per rush and yards per pass in the regular season, they can attack the Chiefs’ weakness vs. the run here. And the Chiefs are 28th in interception rate, they could not pick off Josh Allen last week. Baltimore’s offense top three in interception rate, so likely to protect the ball. Not going to be any dumb plays that swing the game unless you just get unlucky on a fumble. So I just think even with Mahomes, it’s…
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