The National Football League’s conference championships are getting a taste of Texas like never before.
When Minnesota Vikings quarterback Case Keenum, from Abilene (and the University of Houston), and Austin’s Nick Foles of the Philadelphia Eagles take the field Sunday for the NFC title, it will be the first time since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger that two quarterbacks raised in Texas will oppose each other in a conference championship.
In fact, only five other times have quarterbacks from the same state faced off in a conference title game, the most recent being the 1993 AFC Championship, according to KHOU 11 News research. Pennsylvanians Jim Kelly and Joe Montana were the two signal callers in that game.
2017 NFC: Case Keenum (Texas), Minnesota vs. Nick Foles (Texas), Philadelphia
1993 AFC: Joe Montana (Pennsylvania), Kansas City vs. Jim Kelly (Pennsylvania), Buffalo
1992 AFC: Jim Kelly (Pennsylvania), Buffalo vs. Dan Marino (Pennsylvania), Miami
1990 NFC: Jeff Hostetler (Pennsylvania), New York vs. Joe Montana (Pennsylvania), San Francisco
1980 AFC: Jim Plunkett (California), Oakland vs. Dan Fouts (California), San Diego
1970 NFC: Craig Morton (California), Dallas vs. John Brodie (California), San Francisco