I agree the most likely outcome is the 49ers beating the Lions. Before this weekend, I’d have given the Lions very low odds of even making it a game. But the 49ers looked like a beatable team against the Packers. The Lions didn’t look like world beaters in theirs either, but I can at least see a path to victory for them.
I think you’re golden with the Ravens, but it is going to be very difficult for the Lions to upset the 49ers. Anything is possible, of course.
All the teams left alive have looked pretty beatable except the Ravens. Even though they were tied at 10 at the half, the Ravens still looked dominant, and took over in the second half. I like the Lions’ chances against the 49ers better than I like the Chiefs’ against the Ravens. Swift better show up to the AFC Championship game and root up a storm for Travis if the Chiefs are to have any chance!
Sure, you can find oddities like this, but it’s not like it’s the norm.
The bye week was built in from the beginning specifically to hype the game. In the wake of the AFL-NFL merge, Pete Rozelle wanted teams to come in and promote the Big Game and help the newly merged league grow. And it worked. It’s the single biggest US sporting event of the year
There have been a few times there was no bye week after the conference championships for various reasons but it doesn’t really seem to have affected the teams more than usual. The main reason for the bye week really is to build hype to grow the business
IIRC, one of those times was 1983, and that was as a result of the strike during the 1982 season.
Another was 2002, and that was because of the two-week postponement of all games after 9/11.
If anyone can solve that Ravens defense, it’s Reid and Mahomes. But man oh man Baltimore looks near unbeatable.
I think you can make a credible case for any of the remaining teams, though some luck will naturally be involved.
SF and Baltimore separated themselves from the rest of the league. I’d like to see what the 49ers do in a re-match but suspect Purdy still isn’t quite up to the task of dealing with that defense.
This article says that there has been a one week break before the Superbowl seven times:
Nice article. The last time it was done was for Super Bowl XXVII, so it’s been awhile. I like the extra week, and it gives teams time to heal so that injuries are less of a factor in the big game.
Thanks, I’ve got a puncher’s chance. Of course, the dumbest possible way to lose, and therefore the most likely outcome for me, would be for the Lions to pull off a huge upset while the Ravens go down. 
I think both games this weekend will be nailbiters. If Jordan Love can take the Niners down to the wire, so can Detroit’s explosive contingent of backs and receivers. And we all know never to count Mahomes out.
They have tried playing the Super Bowl the week after the conference championships; in one case, it was pretty much forced by a strike that shortened the season. At least in my opinion, the game ends up losing a lot of its hype. I like to say that the first week is “dead week” and the second week is “hype week”; they tried getting rid of dead week, but got rid of hype week instead.
Also note that the Pro Bowl being played in the middle of the break is a relatively new thing; it used to be played after the Super Bowl, in hopes that players from the two teams would be in it, but eventually the NFL realized that the losing team’s players didn’t want to be in it and the winning team’s players would rather be in a victory parade instead of practice, so if none of them were going to be in it anyway, then they might as well have it before the Super Bowl.
After the Lions win, I looked at Superbowl ticket prices… $9000 was the cheapest available (plus Ticketmaster fees of course).
In related NFL news: the Packers have reportedly fired defensive coordinator Joe Barry this morning.
The defense had been a weak point for the past two years, and fans had been particularly antsy about Barry this past season.
Conference championships thread:
NFL 2023-2024: Conference Championships - The Game Room - Straight Dope Message Board