A history deal

 So, then: Detroit, San Francisco, Baltimore, Kansas City.

Them's your final four, and no crabbing from the crabby misogynist brigade about OH MY GOD ANOTHER WEEK OF TAYLOR SWIFT. Yes, another week of that damn woman who's wildly successful and uses her success in threatening ways, such as encouraging people to vote. Deal with it, ya grumps.

Deal with it, because what we got here is a veritable Historypalooza, which you might find boring but which the Blob of course finds especially gratifying. Because what history nerd doesn't appreciate a good history wallow, especially if it goes back to 1992 and, gasp, 1957?

Speaking of which, let's begin with the Detroit Lions, who beat Tampa Bay Sunday as all of Detroit howled and bellowed, and who are now a win away from the Super Bowl. Read that last again: The Detroit Lions ... are now a win away from the Super Bowl. Weren't we all supposed to be dead before that happened?

Well, we're not, and it is happening, and the last time the Lions were this close to the big prize was, yes, 1957, 67 years ago. Ike was president then. Cars had big ol' tailfins. The Russians were coming to get us with Sputnik ... and Elvis and his pelvis were horrifying our parents ... and hula hoops and coonskin caps were still a thing.

Nineteen fifty-seven was also the last time the Lions won a road playoff game. It happened to be the NFL championship game. And you know who they beat?

The 49ers. In San Francisco.

Which is who they play in the NFC title game, and where they play it.

Can you say "karma", perhaps?

Well, they sure can in Buffalo, where the Bills lost to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in another playoff classic Sunday, which is something we seem to say every year. Mahomes vs. Josh Allen has become the marquee playoff matchup, and once again it did not disappoint. And, yes, karma showed up for this one, too.

What else do you call it when the Bills lose it in the last 90 seconds because Tyler Bass' field goal attempt sailed ... wide right?

Wide right! The bane of the Bills existence since 1991, when Scott Norwood's game-winning attempt sailed wide right in Super Bowl XXV, and Buffalo lost 20-19 to the Giants. The Bills have never come as close since.

So, yeah, there was some karma in frosty Buffalo, and here was some more as Mahomes beat the Bills in the playoffs again, and here was a little history on top of it because, while Mahomes is now 6-0 in divisional round playoff games, this was the first playoff game he'd ever won on the road.

Now it's on to Baltimore, where the Ravens wadded up the Texans 34-10 and Lamar Jackson made a little history himself. He accounted for four touchdowns Saturday, and now he'll be playing in the AFC championship game for the first time. And the city of Baltimore will be playing host to a conference title game for the first time in 53 years.

That was in 1971, and the home team was not the Ravens but the previous tenant, the Colts. John Unitas, the immortal Johnny U., was the Colts quarterback then. They were on their way to beating the Cowboys in Super Bowl V, a comically sloppy game neither team frankly deserved to win.

Jim O'Brien finally won it with a 32-yard field goal.

.Fifty-three years later, Buffalo is surely jealous.