SEATTLE and FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The two teams that will play in Super Bowl XLIX, the 49th edition of the Super Bowl, have been decided after conference championship contests took place Sunday, Jan. 18 in both Seattle, and Foxborough.

In the NFC Championship, the defending champion Seattle Seahawks squared off against the Green Bay Packers in Seattle and ultimately, the Seahawks won by a final score of 28-22 in overtime.

In the AFC Championship, hosted by the New England Patriots, the Patriots and Indianapolis Colts played to a final score of 45-7 that saw the Patriots celebrating a victory. 

Now, the Seahawks and Patriots will prepare to play in the Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 1 in Glendale, Arizona at University of Phoenix Stadium. This is the second time the stadium has hosted the Super Bowl, the last time coming in 2008 when the New York Giants and Patriots met in a game that saw the Giants win 17-14. 

All four semifinalists this year had appeared in a Super Bowl match in the last five years.

AFC Championship: New England Patriots 45, Indianapolis Colts 7

It was a record setting night for the Patriots. 

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady became the NFL’s all-time leading passer in postseason play during the game. He now has over 6,800 career passing yards and passed Denver Bronco Peyton Manning for the top spot. In last week’s playoffs, Brady set the record for most career postseason touchdown passes and passed Joe Montana (46) on the list.

This will mark the eighth time in history the Patriots will appear in the Super Bowl, which ties with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys for the most appearances.

In the first quarter, the Patriots took an early lead as LeGarrette Blount scored on a one-yard rush with 10:15 to go in the period. Stephen Gostkowski made the extra point attempt to put the Patriots up 7-0. 

Then, with 1:20 to go in the period, Brady hooked up James Develin with a one yard touchdown pass and Gostkowski connected on another extra point attempt to put New England 14-0. 

In the second quarter, the Colts got on the board with 4:54 to go as Zurlon Tipton scored on a one yard rushing touchdown. Adam Vinatieri made the extra point to cut New England’s lead down to 14-7.

Gostowksi then hit a 21-yard field goal with nine seconds to go until the half. 

At the halftime break, the Patriots had a 17-7 advantage.

In the third quarter, New England posted 21 points and held the Colts to zero. With 10:03 to go, Brady found Nate Solder, an offensive lineman for the Patriots, for a 16 yard touchdown pass, while Gostkowski hit another extra point attempt to put the Patriots up 24-7. 

With 3:19 to go, Brady connected with Rob Gronkowski for a five yard touchdown and again Gostkowski hit the extra point attempt to put New England up 31-7. 

With 2:08 left in the quarter, Blount rushed the ball 13 yards for a touchdown, followed by a good Gostkowski extra point attempt to put New England ahead 38-7. 

In the fourth, with 10:05 to go in the game, Blount rushed the ball two yards for a touchdown and Gostkowski hit the extra point attempt to give the Patriots a 45-7 advantage. 

Brady finished the day by completing 23-of-35 pass attempts for 226 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Blount had 30 carries for 148 yards and three touchdowns. 

Andrew Luck was 12-for-33 for 126 on the Colts side of the offense and threw two interceptions. The young quarterback also had four carries for 18 yards. 

With the win, the Patriots improved to 14-4, while the Colts finished 13-6.

NFC Championship: Seattle Seahawks 28, Green Bay Packers 22 (OT)

The Seahawks opened the game with silly, and costly, mistakes as they had four turnovers (one lost fumble, three interceptions) in the first half, compared to the Packers two (both interceptions). In the first half alone, the Seahawks picked up seven penalties compared to the Packers’ four. 

But at the end of the game, all that did not matter as the defending champions will have a shot at repeating as Super Bowl champs as they picked up a very impressive come-back victory against the Packers in overtime.

After scoring only seven points in the first three quarters, and allowing 16 in the same time frame, Seattle tacked on 15 points in the final quarter and allowed six in the fourth to force overtime. There, Seattle managed a touchdown in its opening drive and got the win without Green Bay’s offense stepping on the field in overtime. 

In the first quarter, the Packers’ Mason Crosby connected on an 18–yard field goal attempt with 8:07 remaining to put the Packers up 3-0. Roughly three minutes later, Crosby nailed a 19–yard field goal to extend the lead 6-0.

As time in the first quarter expired, quarterback Aaron Rodgers found Randall Cobb on a 13–yard touchdown pass, followed by a good extra point conversion by Crosby, to put the Packers up 13-0 after one. 

In the second quarter, Crosby nailed a 40–yard field goal to put Green Bay up 16-0 at 9:37.

The Seahawks managed to prevent the Packers from scoring again and so the Packers were ahead 16-0 at the halftime break. 

In the third quarter, Seattle finally managed to get on the scoreboard as Jon Ryan connected with Garry Gilliam for a 19–yard touchdown pass with 4:50 remaining. 

Early in the fourth quarter, the Packers extended its lead to 19-7 when Crosby hit a 48–yard field goal with 10:53 to go in the contest. 

Later in the final period, the Seahawks almost got on the board again with 3:02 remaining when quarterback Russell Wilson found Marshawn Lynch for a 35–yard touchdown pass; however, the touchdown call was reversed as replay showed Lynch was not in bounds. 

The Seahawks ended up getting on the board officially with 2:09 to go when Wilson carried the ball one yard into the end zone. Steven Hauschka connected on the extra point to cut the Green Bay lead down to 19-14. 

With 1:25 remaining, the defending champs were not ready to give up the term “champions” without a fight and scored a touchdown on a 24–yard run by Lynch. Wilson completed a short pass to Luke Wilson on a two-point conversion attempt to put Seattle ahead 22-19.

With 14 seconds left in regulation, Crosby connected on a 48–yard field goal attempt to tie the game up at 22.

In overtime, Seattle won the coin toss to determine who started the extra period off with the ball. Russell Wilson found Jermaine Kearse open in the middle of the field for a 35–yard touchdown that gave Seattle the victory and sends them to the Super Bowl for the second consecutive season.

Russell Wilson finished the day 14-of-29 on pass attempts for 209 yards, one passing touchdown, seven carries for 25 rushing yards, one rushing touchdown and four interceptions for Seattle. Lynch had 25 carries for 157 yards and one touchdown and Doug Baldwin finished with six receptions for 106 yards. 

For Green Bay, Rodgers went 19-for-34 on pass attempts for 178 passing yards, one passing touchdown, one carry for 12 yards and two interceptions. Eddy Lacy had 21 carries for 73 yards and Jordy Nelson had five receptions for 71 yards.

With the win, Seattle improved to 14-4, while Green Bay finished the season 13-5.

Super Bowl XLIX Fast Facts

Who: Seattle Seahawks (NFC Champion) versus New England Patriots (AFC Champion)

What: 49th Edition of the Super Bowl

Where: University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona

When: Sunday, Feb. 1 at 6:30 p.m. (EST) on NBC

Why: To crown the best team of the 2014-15 NFL season

Commentators: Al Michaels (Play-by-Play), Chris Collinsworth (Analyst), Michele Tafoya (Sidelines)

National Anthem Performer: Idina Menzel (Yes, the “Let it Go” singer from Disney’s “Frozen”)

America the Beautiful Performer: John Legend

Halftime Performers: Katy Perry and Lenny Kravitz

Other Host Cities Considered: Kansas City, Missouri (initially awarded the contest but had too many hurdles), Tampa, Florida (other option if the NFL passed over Glendale), and Miami

Reach George Harvey at: sports@penbaypilot.com.