Next Sunday's NFC Championship Game is set. The Philadelphia Eagles will host the Minnesota Vikings, who pulled off a thrilling 29-24 walk-off win on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints.
Reasons to be excited: The Eagles showed Saturday they're still contenders even without Carson Wentz by muscling past the Atlanta Falcons 15-10 in the divisional round. The new formula is to lean on their fierce defense and a ground game led by Jay Ajayi -- and ask Wentz's replacement, Nick Foles, to make a few clutch throws over the course of the game. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz's unit ranked first against the run (79.2 yards per game) and fourth in points per game (18.4) during the regular season and put forth its best performance of the season against the Falcons. That included a goal-line stand in the closing moments to secure the win. The Eagles have not allowed a point in the final two minutes of a game all season. That says plenty about the willpower of this team. Both the Philly crowd and the elements were factors in the divisional round and should work to the Eagles' advantage again, particularly with another dome team coming to town.
Reasons to be concerned: Foles was shaky to close the regular season and for much of the Atlanta game. The Eagles have scored 34 points total in the past nine quarters under Foles. In comes the best defense in football. The Vikings finished the season first in yards against (192.4 average) and points allowed (15.8 points per game). It's difficult to envision the offense suddenly taking off against this group. And while Vikings quarterback Case Keenum isn't a household name (or wasn't until his 61-yard touchdown to Stefon Diggs as time expired against the Saints on Sunday), he has had a strong year, leading a Vikings team that finished 10th in scoring (23.9 ppg), and he just hung 29 points on a respectable Saints defense.
What's next: History could be repeating in Philadelphia. The last time the Eagles went to the Super Bowl -- following the 2004 season -- they played the Falcons and Vikings in the NFC playoffs to set up a championship matchup with the New England Patriots. The Atlanta game is already in the books, and, as fate would have it, the Vikings are up next. Expect Jeff Fisher's name to be referenced quite a bit this week. Foles started 11 games for him while with the St. Louis Rams in 2015. He split time with Keenum, who started 14 games from 2015 to '16 for Fisher. The two went a combined 11-14 over that span, with 20 touchdowns and 22 interceptions.