Conference Championship Sunday means we have reached the final day with multiple games this season. The day starts on CBS with the Baltimore Ravens hosting the Kansas City Chiefs and finishes on FOX with the Detroit Lions playing the San Francisco 49ers for the NFC championship.
CBS and FOX game announcers and studio analysts have combined to play or coach in over 30 conference games during their careers.
CBS Announcers
CBS starts coverage at 2 p.m. ET with The NFL Today, and kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET. Host James Brown, along with analysts Phil Simms, Bill Cowher, Boomer Esiason, and Nate Burleson. NFL Insider Jonathan Jones will join the show to provide updates from around the league.
Jim Nantz and Tony Romo will be in the broadcast booth, along with rules analyst Gene Steratore. On the sidelines, Tracy Wolfson will be providing updates on the game, and Jay Feely will share his insight on the kicking game. This is the crew that will call Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas.
Cowher won two of the six AFC Championship Games when he was head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He led the Steelers to a Super Bowl title after the 2005 season.
Former quarterbacks Esiason and Simms each won in their only conference title game appearance. Esiason and the Cincinnati Bengals advanced to the Super Bowl after the 1988 season but lost to the 49ers on a late Joe Montana touchdown pass. Simms was the Super Bowl MVP for the New York Giants against the Denver Broncos after the 1986 season, but an injury kept him out of the team’s Super Bowl run in 1990.
Romo and Burleson never reached a Conference Championship Game, while Feely reached a Conference Championship Game twice but lost both times.
FOX Announcers
The final FOX pregame show of the season will be live from the stadium and starts at 6 p.m. ET. Curt Menefee, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Jimmy Johnson, Michael Strahan, Rob Gronkowski, and Jay Glazer will be on the set. This game wraps up the 30th NFL season on FOX.
FOX’s lead group of Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen in the booth will announce the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers. Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi are reporting from the sidelines, and Dean Blandino is the rules analyst.
Gronkowski’s teams played in nine Conference Championship Games during his career, but injuries kept him out of two. He went 5-2 in Conference Championship Games — four wins with the New England Patriots and one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Gronkowski won three Super Bowl titles with New England and one with Tampa Bay.
MORE: NFL Playoff Bracket
Bradshaw was 4-2 in Conference Championship Games on his way to four Super Bowl championships with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s. Johnson’s Dallas Cowboys went on to win the Super Bowl after defeating the 49ers in the NFC Championship game in 1992 and 1993.
Strahan won both NFC Championship Game appearances with the Giants, while Long and Olsen went 1-1 in their conference title game appearances. Long won a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Raiders, and Strahan won once with the Giants. Olsen lost Super Bowl 50 as a member of the Carolina Panthers.
Want to predict the results of the 2023 NFL postseason with our FREE NFL Playoff Predictor? How about looking into in-depth breakdowns of team depth charts or the NFL playoff schedule? Pro Football Network has you covered with all that and more!
