Chiefs survive hazardous bye week

The San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers used their bye week to rest, relax and recharge.

Now they’ll meet in the NFC championship for the first time since 1997, when Reggie White, Brett Favre and that Pack bested Steve Young and Ken Norton Jr.

The R&R from the first-round bye proved more like rust, ruin and rubbish in the AFC, where the Ravens and Chiefs, the top two seeds, fell into 22-point and 24-point holes, respectively, in their return to action over the weekend.

Kansas City overcame the 24 points they spotted Houston thanks to last season’s NFL MVP, Patrick Mahomes, and some debatable decisions by Texans coach Bill O’Brien in a wild 51-31 win.

Baltimore didn’t bounce back, bowing to Tennessee 28-12 with its first loss since Sept. 29, rendering moot a fantastic season and calling into question quarterback Lamar Jackson’s playoff panache.

Behind Derrick Henry, who’s on the greatest eight-game stretch by any running back in the history of a league that’s celebrating its centennial season, the Titans are in their first conference championship game in 20 years.

The Chiefs reached their second straight AFC title game at Arrowhead Stadium thanks to a 51-7 run engineered by Mahomes and helped along by O’Brien’s decisions not to go for it on fourth-and-inches from the Kansas City 13 and then to try a fake punt on fourth-and-4 from his own 31 minutes later while still ahead 24-7.

BALTIMORE BOWS OUT

Now the Ravens know how the Broncos felt eight years ago when Baltimore upset Denver in double overtime on its way to winning Super Bowl 47.

Riding Peyton Manning’s successful comeback from neck fusion surgery that led to his release from the Colts in 2012, the Broncos entered the playoffs riding an 11-game winning streak and earned the AFC’s top seed with a 13-3 record. But they lost for the first time in 98 days thanks in large part to safety Rahim Moore’s ill-timed jump that allowed Jacoby Jones to haul in a 70-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco in the final minute of regulation.

That, and coach John Fox’s decision to have Manning take a knee with two timeouts and 31 seconds remaining, playing for overtime instead of a last-second retort.

The 2019 Ravens went 14-2, the best regular season in franchise history, earned a No. 1 seed for the first time, and received a record-breaking performance from Jackson, their second-year QB who turned the NFL upside down with his unmatched mobility and improved pocket presence. They had 12 players picked to the Pro Bowl, tying a record, and five All-Pros.

And they lost in the divisional round.

“This game is going to be the one that we’ll remember because it’s the last one,” coach John Harbaugh said. “I told them, in the end, there’s only one team that gets to be the one true champion — and that’s not going to be us this year.”