Packers. Patriots. Steelers. Falcons. Who Has the Edge?

Road teams finally found the success they were missing in this season’s playoffs, with Green Bay and Pittsburgh advancing to the conference championships. Both will have to repeat that road success if either team wants to make it to Super Bowl LI in Houston, as the Packers will travel to Atlanta and the Steelers will be on their way to New England.

Here’s a quick preview of the conference championships:

N.F.C.

No. 4 Green Bay Packers (10-6) at No. 2 Atlanta Falcons (11-5)

Time: 3:05 p.m. Eastern, Fox

Spread: Falcons are favored by 4.

They say “defense wins championships,” but the N.F.C. will almost assuredly be decided by which team’s superstar quarterbacks is able to do more damage. Aaron Rodgers has led the Green Bay Packers to eight consecutive wins, repeatedly delivering under intense late-game pressure, and Matt Ryan looks like a completely different player than the one who struggled in recent seasons. Green Bay will be trying to win a a second consecutive playoff game on the road, and Atlanta, after an easy win over Seattle in the divisional round, will be trying to reach the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1998 season.

A.F.C.

No. 3 Pittsburgh Steelers (11-5) at No. 1 New England Patriots (14-2)

Time: 6:40 p.m. Eastern, CBS

Spread: Patriots are favored by 6.

At one point during the season the Patriots seemed nearly unbeatable, but they have had to work far harder in recent weeks to keep things going. The Steelers, meanwhile, have hit their stride defensively, with an offense led by the usual suspects of Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown. It will be New England’s 11th appearance in the A.F.C. championship game in the 16 seasons of the Tom Brady Era, and the team will be trying to reach the Super Bowl for the seventh time in that span. The Steelers, who have won two Super Bowls with Roethlisberger, are hoping to make an appearance in the game for the fourth time in 12 seasons.

Here’s how all four teams got here:

Steelers Win Ugly Game in Kansas City

It may not have been the type of game the Pittsburgh Steelers prefer to play, with all of the team’s scoring coming from their kicker’s foot, but in the playoffs a win is a win. And the Steelers’ ugly 18-16 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs was just enough to earn the team a trip to New England to face the Patriots in the A.F.C. championship game.

It was a game largely defined by Pittsburgh’s inability to punch the ball into the end zone after moving the ball well between the 20-yard lines. The game’s biggest moment came near the end when Sean Davis, the Steelers’ defensive back whose helmet-to-helmet hit helped set up a late touchdown for Kansas City, was able to help break up the Chiefs’ 2-point conversion attempt that would have tied the game.

The Steelers wasted a tremendous effort by running back Le’Veon Bell, who broke his own franchise postseason record by gaining 170 yards on 30 carries. Despite Bell’s success, Pittsburgh was forced to turn to Chris Boswell, the team’s kicker, for a postseason record six field goals, breaking the previous record of five that been accomplished eight times.

In an on-field interview after the game, Boswell rejected the notion that he was the team’s newest “Killer B” along with Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Bell.

“It was just about doing my job,” Boswell said. “Come out here and put it through the yellow pipes and don’t really think too much, don’t think ‘I’m the guy’ or anything.”

The Chiefs had started the game well, becoming the first team this season to score against Pittsburgh on an opening drive, but the offense went quiet after that, managing one field goal and one late touchdown which was too little, too late.

Pittsburgh’s defense largely eliminated Tyreek Hill, the Chiefs’ versatile offensive weapon. He was limited to 18 rushing yards and 27 receiving yards, serving as a decoy on many of Kansas City’s plays.

The Steelers will now go on the road against New England trying to earn its fourth trip to the Super Bowl in the Ben Roethlisberger era.

“I think it’s going to be a showdown,” Bell said in a televised interview. “Obviously, two great quarterbacks going head-to-head, two of the best teams in the A.F.C., so it’s time to settle it next week.”

Packers Knock Off Cowboys on Last-Second Field Goal

The Green Bay Packers could not hold on to a huge early lead, but in the game’s final seconds Aaron Rodgers was given one more chance to score, and his long completion to Jared Cook set up Mason Crosby’s game-winning 51-yard field goal in a 34-31 victory over the Dallas Cowboys that earned the Packers a trip to the N.F.C. championship game next week against Atlanta.

After a string of boring playoff blowouts this season, all won by home teams, Green Bay bucked the trend in a thrilling game in which the Packers raced to a 21-3 lead only to slowly let Dallas back into the game. The Cowboys tied it up at 28-28 before the teams traded long field goals, with Crosby’s 56- and 51-yard makes beating out the 52-yarder from Dan Bailey that nearly resulted in overtime.

There were offensive fireworks on both sides, as Rodgers threw for 356 yards and 2 touchdowns while Dak Prescott, the Cowboys’ Cinderella story at quarterback, threw for 302 yards and 3 touchdowns. While Rodgers walked away with the win, Prescott showed exactly why the team confidently kept him as the team’s starter even after longtime starter Tony Romo was declared healthy.

In the end, however, Rodgers had just enough to overcome Dallas’ furious comeback. He rattled the Cowboys’ defense all game, catching them moving too slowly on substitutions, taking advantage of penalties, and deftly avoiding the rush to set up passing plays. And on the final drive, when his team needed him most, he found Cook downfield for a shocking 35-yard gain that set up Crosby’s game-winner. Cook just barely got his feet down before going out of bounds, with the play requiring a review after officials disagreed about whether or not he made the catch.

Rodgers was all smiles in an on-field interview after the game, saying the game was fun. But when asked about what he was thinking as his long pass to Cook was reeled in, he gave all the credit to Cook.

“It was a great catch by Jared,” Rodgers said, adding “It’s just kind of schoolyard at times late in the game like that.”

Rodgers was forced to play the entire game without his top wide receiver, Jordy Nelson, but he was able to succeed thanks to strong games from Cook, Davante Adams and Randall Cobb. Ty Montgomery, the wide receiver-turned-running back, chipped in with 11 carries for 47 yards and 2 touchdowns, while also catching 6 passes for 34 yards.

That the game was left to Crosby’s strong right leg may have worried some Packers fans, but the veteran kicker had an incredible final four minutes of the game. His 56-yard make set a franchise playoff record, and he had to make the 51-yard attempt twice as Dallas used a timeout to erase his first attempt. While the game-winner was a fairly low kick, it easily made it over the crossbar, completing the Green Bay victory.

Green Bay has now won eight consecutive games after Rodgers vowed to “run the table” following the team’s loss to Washington in Week 11. While the quarterback’s long streak without an interception finally ended in the second half, he continued to show off the M.V.P. form that had eluded him in the first half of the season.

The loss ended what had been a remarkable season for Dallas, a team that captured the No. 1 seed in the N.F.C. despite losing Romo during the preseason and being forced to hand over the offense to Prescott, a fourth-round draft pick who few expected to play, let alone start. But Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott, along with some tremendous play by the team’s offensive line, formed an offense that few could keep up with.

As the No. 4 seed in the conference, Green Bay will travel to face the No. 2-seeded Falcons in Atlanta next Sunday.

Here’s What Happened Saturday

■ Matt Ryan led the Atlanta Falcons to a 36-20 win over the Seattle Seahawks and heard choruses of “M.V.P.! M.V.P.!” which seemed justified by his 338-yard, three-touchdown performance. That his return to the playoffs was a huge success against Seattle’s Legion of Boom secondary was quite an accomplishment, though it comes with the asterisk of Earl Thomas having missed the game. Thomas, the All-Pro safety, was sorely missed, especially on a 53-yard catch-and-run by running back Devonta Freeman, who executed a fake that left Thomas’s replacement, Steven Terrell, grasping at air as he fell to the turf.

■ The Houston Texans’ defense was the only thing keeping the team together all season, and the unit did its best in a lopsided loss to the New England Patriots in which the team intercepted Tom Brady twice but also saw Dion Lewis become the first player in the Super Bowl era to score touchdowns on a run, a pass and a kickoff return in a playoff game. The top-ranked Houston defense got little help from Brock Osweiler, the team’s quarterback who seemed to change a few minds last week, then reminded everyone of his flaws with three interceptions on Saturday. Even with a 34-16 victory for the Patriots, the game showed a great number of flaws for New England going forward. Pretty or not, the Patriots are headed to the team’s 11th conference championship game in the last 16 seasons.