San Francisco 49ers, Cincinnati Bengals advance to Conference Championships

The San Francisco 49ers and Cincinnati Bengals booked their places in the Conference Championships with victories over the Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills respectively.

In an emotionally-charged encounter between the Bengals and Bills, who met for the first time since Damar Hamlin's on-field collapse three weeks ago, the Cincinnati side stormed to a 27-10 victory.

Joe Burrow threw touchdown passes to Ja'Marr Chase and Hayden Hurst in the first quarter as the Bengals - who lost last year's Super Bowl to the Los Angeles Rams - stormed into a 14-0 lead in snowy conditions.

The Bengals will meet the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship match next Sunday for the chance to meet either the 49ers or the Philadelphia Eagles at Super Bowl LVII after the San Francisco outfit edged past the Cowboys.

The two NFC hopefuls found themselves level pegging at 9-9 heading into the fourth quarter, where Christian McCaffrey's two-yard run into the end zone made the difference.

The well-documented staunch defence of the 49ers held out in the remainder of the contest to make their third Championship match in four years, and injury was added to insult for the Cowboys, who lost running back Tony Pollard to a suspected fractured fibula near the end of the first half.