The AFC and NFC Championship Games feature four teams with defenses that finished ranked in the top five in scoring and just one team with a franchise quarterback, that being the New England Patriots with perhaps the greatest in Tom Brady.

The other three quarterbacks are Jacksonville's Blake Bortles, Minnesota's Case Keenum and Philadelphia's Nick Foles. Both Keenum and Foles opened the season as backups, and Bortles was benched in the preseason for Chad Henne.

Now they're all a game away from the Super Bowl.

Seeing the quarterback situation the way it is, coupled with the strong defenses, will set off the alarms that you don't need the high-priced franchise passer anymore.

Go ahead and think that, but it would be wrong.

Sustainable success comes by solving the quarterback position. There are aberration seasons, but to maintain that success you need the talented guy under center.

The Eagles will have Carson Wentz back next season, so Foles will be a backup again. Keenum is a free agent and could be gone and there's a chance that Bortles won't be the starter in Jacksonville next season.

For now, they are three-fourths of the championship game quartet.

No wonder the Patriots with Brady are the odds-on favorite to win it all.

NFL Championship Sunday picks

AFC Championship Game

No. 3 Jacksonville (12-6) at No. 1 New England (14-3)
TV: 3:05 p.m. ET, CBS 
Line: Patriots, -9.5 points

The Patriots were expected to be here. The Jaguars? Not so much.

But this young, confident Jacksonville team might not be overwhelmed by the moment playing against Brady. The Jaguars talk the talk, which will matter none once the game starts, but they believe they can shut down any offense in the league.

It won't be easy against Brady. He is a marksman and is 7-0 in his career against the Jaguars. The last time they played in the playoffs in 2007, he carved them to shreds as they played a lot of zone coverage. I would imagine Jacksonville will play more man this time around with their talented corners. They should put Jalen Ramsey on Rob Gronkowski in some situations.

Pressure has been the problem for Brady in all of his postseason losses. If you hit him, you can beat him. The Jaguars were second in the NFL in sacks during the regular season, but they didn't get much pressure against the Steelers last week.

They have to be better here.

On the other side of the ball, the Patriots have made great improvements on defense the past 10 weeks. They shut down the Titans last week, and coordinator Matt Patricia had an outstanding plan to limit Derrick Henry, who had 28 yards rushing.

Once again, the focus for that defense will be to limit the Jacksonville running game, which is keyed by Leonard Fournette. He did bang up his ankle last week, so his health bears watching.

The Patriots will try and make Bortles beat them. He was steady last week, and hasn't turned the ball over in the playoffs, but this will be a real challenge. The Patriots will throw a ton of looks at him.

The Jaguars will keep it close, but in the end the Patriots will pull it out to go to another Super Bowl. I just can't see the Jaguars shutting down Brady the entire game.

The pick: Patriots 24, Jaguars 20

So what side do you need to be all over in the AFC Championship Game? Visit SportsLine now to get their pick for Patriots vs. Jaguars from stats guru Galin Dragiev, who's on a red-hot 16-4 run in against the spread picks.

NFC Championship Game

No. 2 Minnesota (14-3) at No. 1 Philadelphia (14-3)
TV: 6:40 p.m. ET, Fox
Line: Vikings, -3.5 points

This is a game that features two quality defenses and two quarterbacks who started the season as backups.

The Eagles did a great job getting the most out of Nick Foles against the Falcons, using their scheme to get him some easy throws, which is something they will have to do here. He's a solid player when he runs that style of offense, but if asked to do more things, it can get ugly. That's especially true against a good Minnesota secondary.

The Vikings have a better passer in Case Keenum, who made the miracle touchdown throw to beat the Saints on the final play. Keenum is a gamer, a guy who doesn't always look pretty doing it but finds a way to make plays.

Whichever quarterback does the best job of protecting the football, while still being able to make the throws down the field, will be the one that wins this game.

Both defenses feature stars. The Eagles have one of the best inside players in the league in Fletcher Cox, who is a game wrecker. The Vikings have a star-studded back end of their defense with corner Xavier Rhodes and safety Harrison Smith, but the key here will be end Everson Griffen. His ability to pressure Foles will be big.

The Eagles defense played better against the Falcons than what the Vikings showed against the Saints. But that was Drew Brees having a big day throwing it this past week. Foles is not Brees.

That's why I think the Vikings will go into Philadelphia and beat the Eagles to become the first team to play a Super Bowl on their home field. Who saw that coming with Keenum?

The pick: Vikings 21, Eagles 16

So what side do you need to be all over in the NFC Championship Game? Visit SportsLine now to get their pick for Vikings vs. Eagles from Vegas legend Micah Roberts, who's on a red-hot 8-3 run in against the spread picks on Eagles' games.