WPTV will be home to two NFL playoff games this weekend.
The visiting Las Vegas Raiders will take on the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday afternoon, while the Pittsburgh Steelers will travel to the Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday night.
Whichever team emerges victorious will be one step closer to playing in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Feb. 13.
Las Vegas Raiders (10-7) at Cincinnati Bengals (10-7)
4:30 p.m. Saturday | WPTV
The Raiders are playoff-bound in just their second season since relocating to Las Vegas. They locked up the final playoff spot Sunday night with a 35-32 overtime victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.
Las Vegas won its final four games of the regular season and becomes just the third team since 1960 to make the playoffs with an interim head coach. Rich Bisaccia led the Raiders to a 7-5 record since taking over for Jon Gruden, who resigned in October.
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr has never appeared in a playoff game, missing the team's wild-card loss to the Houston Texans with an injury during the 2016 season.
Cincinnati, meanwhile, won the AFC North Division for the first time since 2015 to punch its playoff ticket. The Bengals overcame a 14-point deficit to defeat the Chiefs in the penultimate game of the regular season and give them the divisional crown.
Joe Burrow, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft, has thrown for 4,611 yards and 34 touchdowns to lead the Bengals back to the playoffs, proving he's the franchise quarterback for the foreseeable future.
But against one of the hottest teams in the playoffs, Burrow and the Bengals will need running back Joe Mixon to return after testing positive for COVID-19 and missing the regular-season finale. Mixon has accounted for 16 touchdowns in as many games this season.
Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7-1) at Kansas City Chiefs (12-5)
Sunday 8 p.m. | WPTV
Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers are back in the playoffs, thanks to a little help from the Raiders (by virtue of Sunday night's victory) and Jacksonville Jaguars (whose 26-11 win over Indianapolis ended the Colts' season prematurely).
Just two seasons removed from winning a Super Bowl and a season after playing in another, Kansas City looked like it was in trouble after a 27-3 loss to the Tennessee Titans (the AFC's top seed) in late October dropped the Chiefs to 3-4. Since then, however, the Chiefs have won nine of their last 10 games and quarterback Patrick Mahomes is back to playing at MVP form.
As impressive as Kansas City has looked offensively, it's the defense that gives the Chiefs the best chance of winning. The Chiefs faced the NFL's toughest schedule and went 3-3 against AFC playoff teams, but they're 3-0 against NFC playoff teams. That could bode well for the Chiefs if they make a deep playoff run.
This postseason is expected to the final hurrah for Roethlisberger after spending all 18 seasons of his NFL career in Pittsburgh. Could this be his final game? Arrowhead Stadium is one of the toughest venues in the NFL, so the Steelers will need a healthy and accurate Roethlisberger to have a chance against the Chiefs.
